India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway agreement soon

[webfact]

India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway agreement soon
By Richa Sharma

NEW DELHI: The dream of a seamless travel in Southeast Asian countries will soon be reality with India all set to sign a strategic trilateral highway agreement connecting India-Myanmar-Thailand via road which is expected to give a big boost to trade and economy in ASEAN countries.

According to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) is almost ready and will be signed soon. The agreement was to be signed last year but it was delayed due to elections in Myanmar.

“Various rounds of negotiations were undertaken by India, Myanmar and Thailand on the text of MVA and protocols. After a meeting of focal points in Bangkok in September, 2015, the contracting parties of IMT MVA broadly agreed upon the text of framework agreement. Negotiations on the protocols to implement the MVA have been under way,” said a MoRTH official.

Full story: http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/India-Myanmar-Thailand-trilateral-highway-agreement-soon/2016/05/22/article3445994.ece

-- INDIAN EXPRESS 2016-05-23

[canuckamuck]

Hooray! Now we will have Indian drivers as a counter measure to the Chinese drivers.

[EricBerg]

That highway will boost both trade and smuggling. Drugs from the golden triangle will be transported there. Impossible to do decent checks on a busy highway.

[FourAces]

looks like the new seemless travel will also provide seemless importation of contriband goods and illicit goods too. good one

[HannahD]

Poor little Thailand. Soon to be at the terminus of a high speed railway from the most populous country in the world and even sooner at the terminus of a highway from the second most populous country in the world. How could anything possibly go wrong with this scheme?

[Jdiddy]

Lol the amount of negativity never ceases to amaze me in here, 1st thing i thought was my dream of a seamless motorbike ride from malaysia to scotland just came abit easier.

Drugs will always find a way to where they are wanted

[macksview]

name for the highway

'the sex n slave labour highway'

[Redline]

Oh goodie!!

[zyphodb]

Cant wait, what a road trip thatd be on my bike...

[tuanku]

That highway will boost both trade and smuggling. Drugs from the golden triangle will be transported there. Impossible to do decent checks on a busy highway.

That's OK then, it is not RTP policy to do "decent checks". As long as they get their cut and immigration get their cut, it will be business as usual. The laws of supply and demand indicate that if the drugs get easier to import, then the prices will go down so in the end everyone is happy, including the addicts. Its a win-win

[tuanku]

Poor little Thailand. Soon to be at the terminus of a high speed railway from the most populous country in the world and even sooner at the terminus of a highway from the second most populous country in the world. How could anything possibly go wrong with this scheme?

Hey, when you are fixated on tourist numbers but maintaining a safe aviation industry is too big a challenge - these alternatives for access of "quality" tourists have to be good news!

[tuanku]

Lol the amount of negativity never ceases to amaze me in here, 1st thing i thought was my dream of a seamless motorbike ride from malaysia to scotland just came abit easier.

Drugs will always find a way to where they are wanted

At the risk of sounding negative, just because an agreement is signed doesn't mean it will be a reality within your lifetime or mine (and I'm only 15)

[Tomtomtom69]

Hooray! Now we will have Indian drivers as a counter measure to the Chinese drivers.

Unlikely, unless the Indians sign up for a bilateral pact with Thailand. Chinese will be banned from driving their cars to Thailand starting June 27, unless pre-arrangements are made at least 10 business days in advance.

[Tomtomtom69]

That highway will boost both trade and smuggling. Drugs from the golden triangle will be transported there. Impossible to do decent checks on a busy highway.

A highway from the Indian to the Thai border at Myawady (opposite Mae Sot) already exists and is fairly busy. The border crossing opened Aug 28, 2013 to foreigners and Thai/Burmese citizens with appropriate visas and a new Thai built bypass road from Myawady to Kawkareik (can't be found on Google Maps, though Google Earth shows it if you zoom in) was officially opened on August 30, 2015. The Indian border crossing is closed, unless you have a permit but recently travelers on Lonely Planet have been told the Burmese government was not issuing permits as they consider possibly abolishing the system. In which case you won't be able to cross the border unless they designate it as international.

Any drugs that are being smuggled have already been smuggled for years, you make it sound as if this hasn't been happening so far. In most cases, drug runners aren't going to make a detour of hundreds of km from the yaba factories of Shan state to drive along this highway to make it Mae Sot. They can already enter via Mae Sai, or via any number of dozens of isolated mountainous roads in Chiang Mai or Mae Hong Son provinces where army/police patrols don't catch them.

[Tomtomtom69]

Lol the amount of negativity never ceases to amaze me in here, 1st thing i thought was my dream of a seamless motorbike ride from malaysia to scotland just came abit easier.

Drugs will always find a way to where they are wanted

At the risk of sounding negative, just because an agreement is signed doesn't mean it will be a reality within your lifetime or mine (and I'm only 15)

Jdiddy, unless your motorcycle is Malaysian registered, even a "seamless" entry to Thailand won't be possible from late next month onwards as the Thais will effectively ban foreign registered vehicles (except Lao, Malaysian and Singaporean) from entering. The next barrier then comes from Myanmar, which won't allow your vehicle in unless you go on a tour.

tuanku, I agree with you but as I happen to be familiar with most of this road, let me tell you what the realities are:

Firstly, a road connecting the Thai border at Mae Sot/Myawady to the Indian border at Tamu/Moreh already exists. A new mountain bypass road from the Thai border, which is 45km in length now connects Thailand with Kawkareik, the first township in the plains. From there, a narrow but semi-decent road takes you to Hpa-an, the state capital of Kayin State. Another fairly good road connects to Yangon/Bago/Waw (entrance to Yangon-Mandalay expressway). Once in Mandalay, you can head to Tamu via Monywa, Kaleyo and eventually the border (haven't been out that way).

The new highway being proposed will either be a brand new road that hasn't already been built, or simply (and this is much more likely) the upgrading of the existing road. The Indian prime minister Modi wants traffic to drive on the left hand side along the entire highway. Unless Myanmar switches back to left-hand traffic throughout the country, this would mean traffic drives on the left only along this highway. I can't imagine that traffic would drive on the left along an existing highway and on the right elsewhere - it would have to be a separate designated road.

Anyway, here is an article to read for more information. According to the article, it seems that most of the existing highway will be upgraded and only a small amount of new road will be constructed, assuming this plan comes to fruition at all:

india-briefing.com/news/indiamyanmarthailand-trilateral-highway-investment-opportunity-making-11535.html

[Tomtomtom69]

One more thing: the most basic step to allow this highway to become a reality is to designate the Indian-Myanmar border as an international crossing and allow foreigners across. Until this happens, any talk of a highway is irrelevant and just white noise.

[Tomtomtom69]

Poor little Thailand. Soon to be at the terminus of a high speed railway from the most populous country in the world and even sooner at the terminus of a highway from the second most populous country in the world. How could anything possibly go wrong with this scheme?

"Soon". Haha. You obviously haven't been following the news. Thailand has effectively scrapped the original high speed railway from China and want to go it alone just to Nakorn Ratchasima. That won't help much other than getting you 250km closer to China from Bangkok. Better just to catch one of the dozens upon dozens of daily flights operating just between Bangkok and numerous Chinese cities alone.

Secondly, this is Asia we're talking about here. Who said any of these plans, even if they were going to go ahead will happen anytime soon? Those of us who aren't old farts, will certainly be by the time any of these projects are realized, if they happen at all.