Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Water ways Sarbananda Sonowal’s announcement that the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project will be operational by 2027 ignited fresh hope of the Northeast region getting access to the sea route. Operationalisation of the project is also strategically important to open an alternative route to narrow the Siliguri corridor, popularly known as the Chicken Neck corridor, to connect the region with the rest of India for supplies of essentials. Restoration of peace and stability in Myanmar will be crucial for the sustainability of the Kaladan route to facilitate trade and commerce from the northeast region. The fresh influx of over 3,000 refugees from Myanmar into Mizoram following a fierce gunbattle between two ethnic groups in Chin State over the past two days speaks volumes about the complexities in expediting the Kaladan project work, which cannot be ignored. Mizoram has already provided shelter to over 30,000 refugees from the neighbouring country who fled their homes following violent clashes between the troops of the military junta and ethnic rebels. For India, navigating such a fragile political landscape in the neighbouring country to push a project funded by it puts its diplomatic capacity for strategic engagement to the test. Every single progress made towards operationalisation of the project demonstrates India’s balancing capacity while pushing a project that is central to unlocking the trade and commerce potential of the northeast region. Following the installation of a hostile regime in Bangladesh, the access to Chittagong and Mongla ports for the northeast region, which was earlier facilitated by the previous India-friendly Sheikh Hasina regime, has plunged into uncertainty. Changing geopolitics in South Asia demands India mobilise efforts to expedite the road component of the Kaladan project from Paletwa in Myanmar’s Chin State to Zorinpui in Mizoram to operationalise the India-funded strategic project. Apart from ending dependence on Bangladesh for transit facilities between the Northeast region and the rest of India through land and waterway, the Kaladan project will also reduce cost and time in the transportation of goods between Kolkata and Aizawl and Agartala through Sittwe port in Myanmar by 50%. The inauguration of the Sittwe port in 2023 brightened the hope for expeditious completion of the Kaladan project. Sittwe port connects to Paletwa through an inland waterway along a 158 km stretch of the Kaladan River. The transborder connectivity project involves dredging of the Kaladan River to make it navigable for 300-tonne capacity barges for transportation of cargo between Sittwe Port and Paletwa. Keeping the inland waterway channel navigable will be crucial for the sustainability of the multimodal transport and transit project. With the Arakan Army rebel gaining control over the Chin state, India will be required to engage with it for completion of the road from Paletwa to Zorinpui at the Mizoram-Myanmar border even after engaging and securing cooperation from Myanmar for accessing the Sittwe port. While navigating the fast-changing geopolitical landscape in Myanmar will continue to pose challenges in operationalisation of the Kaladan project, Union Minister Sonowal’s setting 2027 as the target year for operationalisation indicates that India has managed to overcome the key hurdles, which is good news for the region. The condition of road and railway connectivity between Mizoram and Assam, Tripura, and Manipur will determine how far the region will be able to tap the potential of operationalisation of the Kaladan project. Recurrence of landslides along the hill sections of the Lumding-Silchar Broad Gauge railway line, the Haflong-Silchar route of National Highway 27, and the Silchar-Aizawl highway during the monsoon season disrupting road and railway connectivity within the region paints a grim picture of infrastructure bottlenecks in fully tapping the economic potential of the Kaladan project. Prioritising expeditious completion of the proposed Guwahati-Silchar access-controlled four-lane high-speed national highway is critical to achieving the strategic advantage of operationalisation of the Kaladan project. Recurrence of highway and railway traffic disruption for days together due to landslides frequently during the monsoon period is reflective of inadequate attention towards improving the highway and railway network within the region to a global standard and ensuring all-weather connectivity to facilitate trade and commerce through the Kaladan multimodal project. Mere operationalisation of the Kaladan project will not be an attraction for big-ticket investment in the region if consignments transported on trucks travelling to Aizawl and other destinations in the Northeast region remain stranded due to landslides. Frequent disruption of traffic will also dilute the economic advantage of using the shorter sea route, and the expected moderation of prices of essential commodities supplied from other states in India to the Northeast region will also evaporate. The news of the Kaladan project making forward movement has reminded the railway and highway authorities to pull up their socks and prioritise improvement of railway lines and highways in the region to send a clear message to potential investors about the region being fully ready to unlock its potential in global trade and commerce by leveraging sea-route access through Myanmar.