Thai envoy lays stress on motor vehicles pact

THE SEGMENT IN MYANMAR IS EXPECTED TO BE FINISHED IN MAY 2019 AND THE OVERALL PROJECT IS SCHEDULED TO BE COMPLETED BY 2021

NEW DELHI: India, Myanmar and Thailand should expedite negotiations on a motor vehicles pact and legal infrastructure before the scheduled completion of a trilateral highway so that there are no impediments to the route being opened for business, Thai ambassador Chutintorn Gongsakdi has said.

The nearly 1,400-km trilateral highway is aimed at giving a massive boost to trade in Southeast Asia and is an integral part of India’s “Act East” policy.

The project’s completion now hinges on the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) developing a 121-km two-lane highway between Yagyi and Kalewa in Myanmar, with the external affairs ministry providing ~ 1,117 crore for this section.

The segment in Myanmar is expected to be finished in May 2019 and the overall project is scheduled to be completed by 2021. But even before the completion, Gongsakdi suggested the three countries should address a host of issues — such as the motor vehicles agreement, domestic ownership caps on transportation firms, routes, customs, immigration and quarantine — in their negotiations.

“Those are some issues that require sitting down and discussing. They are not unsolvable, they can be solved, but it requires sitting down and ironing out properly,” Gongsakdi said in a recent interview to Hindustan Times. Noting that global transportation and logistics majors have a presence in India, he said: “We are concerned in negotiating the motor vehicles agreement that if we don’t… set a limit that companies which participate in this agreement have to be 51% Indian, then these multinational logistics companies could wipe out our small logistics companies.”

The three sides also have to work out routes that will be open to transport firms and issues such as whether trucks from Myanmar and Thailand will be allowed to come up to New Delhi. “Those things are the nitty gritty, though most of the media attention is on the completion. The legal infrastructure is also important and we can work on this now. We don’t have to wait until the road is completed,” Gongsakdi said.

A senior official of the road transport and highways ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the external affairs ministry is playing a key role in negotiating the protocol on the movement of goods and passengers.

The project is running well on time and the NHAI hopes to complete it before 2021, the official said. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is funding the project, has made a draft note in coordination with the three countries.

“It may take time to decide the protocol as three countries are involved. The transport ministry has a role in interacting and resolving transport-related issues. We plan to do it along the lines of the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) corridor,” the official said.

“Diplomatic issues related to visas and security will be handled by external affairs ministry and the home ministry.”