Resource information
The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (hereafter “Kaladan Project”) will see
the construction of a combined inland waterway and highway transportation system
connecting Mizoram State in Northeast India with a Bay of Bengal deepsea port at Sitetway,
Arakan State in Western Burma. The Indian government is entirely financing the
Kaladan Project, and these funds are officially classified as development aid to Burma.
Once completed, the infrastructure will belong to the Burma government, but the project
is unquestionably designed to achieve India’s economic and geostrategic interests. The
Kaladan Project - conceived in 2003, formalized in 2008 and slated for completion in 2015 - is
a cornerstone of India’s “Look East Policy” aimed at expanding Indian economic and
political influence in Southeast and East Asia. The Kaladan Project is being developed in
Arakan and Chin States - Burma’s least-developed and most poverty-prone states - where
improved infrastructure is badly needed. Yet it remains an open question whether the
Kaladan Project will be implemented in a way that ensures the people living along the
project route are the main beneficiaries of this large-scale infrastructure development.
This report from the Kaladan Movement provides an update on the progress of the Kaladan
Project; assesses the potential Project-related benefi ts and negative impacts for people
living in the project area; provides an overview of the current on-the-ground impacts,
focusing on the hopes and concerns of the local people; and makes a series of
recommendations to the Burma and India governments......."Part 1: Introduction to the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project;
1.1 Specifications of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project;
1.2 Context of the Kaladan Project: India-Burma relations;
1.3 Economies of Mizoram, Arakan, and Chin States;
1.4 The natural environment in the Kaladan Project area...
Part 2: Potential Impacts of the Kaladan Project:
2.1 Potential beneficial impacts of the Kaladan Project;
2.2 Potential negative impacts of the Kaladan project...
Part 3: Current Impacts of the Kaladan Project:
3.1 Lack of consultation;
3.2 Lack of information provided to the community and
lack of government transparency;
3.3 Lack of comprehensive and public Environmental,
Health and Social Impact Assessments;
3.4 Labour discrimination;
3.5 Land confi scation and forced eviction;
3.6 Destruction of local cultural heritage;
3.7 Riverine ecological destruction from aggregate mining
and dredging.....
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/102872850/KM_Report_Eng.pdf
