Punj-Varaha joint venture bags NHAI Myanmar deal

NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India has awarded a 1,200-crore highway contract for Myanmar, its first outside India. The contract, won by a joint venture of Punj Llyod and Varaha Infra Ltd, entails construction of a 112-km two-lane road connecting the towns of Kalewa and Yagyi in the western Sagaing division. Other bidders included Jaypee and APCO.

The award, which coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Myanmar, will be fully funded by the external affairs ministry with NHAI as the implementing agency.

The road will be constructed in three years and the Punj-Varaha JV will maintain it for three years. NHAI has already opened a project implementation unit in Myanmar, which is headed by a senior executive of the authority. Modi has announced assistance to Myanmar in several infrastructure projects as India looks to contain China's dominance in the region.

This is Modi’s first bilateral visit to Myanmar. He had visited the country in 2014 to attend the Asean-India Summit. A strategic neighbour, Myanmar shares a 1,640-km border with four north-eastern states of India, including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.

The project is part of the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway, which aims to provide seamless vehicular movement between Saarc and Asean nations, enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism between India, Myanmar and Thailand. With a total length of 1,360 km, the IMT Highway will link Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar.

ET View: Way To Go
It would make perfect sense to show-case Indian expertise for infrastructure projects abroad. For transparency and for closer monitoring, project follow through needs to be digitised and made available online for all concerned to follow. We do need to pay more attention to infrastructural projects in the immediate neighbourhood. It could bridge the infrastructure gap in India as well. A rail project across Nepal, for example, can significantly reduce travel time to the North-East.