Stillwell road may be opened by 2005

DIBRUGARH, August 27: A part of the ancient Silk Route, the Stilwell Road, may be opened for civilians by 2005. That is the time when most trade of the globe would be opened up and liberalised, and the beneficiaries of the Stilwell Road are keen to have the roadblocks removed and pave the way for prosperity to unfurl in a hitherto landlocked hinterland. The four Governments in Beijing, New Delhi, Dhaka and Yangon appear enthusiastic from the outcome of an unofficial international conference that took place during the middle of this month at Kunming, the capital city of the south Chinese province of Yunan. Kunming is the city that is on the other end of the Stilwell Road, if one takes the road from the Indian end of Ledo. The distance between the two places is 1,725 kilometres and there is already talk here that Dibrugarh is the centrepoint between Kunming and Calcutta. If the promising trade route is opened up, manufacturers and service providers here would have the option of selling their products and services either towards the mainland of the country or towards the unexplored markets of Myanmar and southern China, and vice versa. Kunming, located in the higher altitudes, has a climate that is akin to that of Shillong. But there ends the similarity. In the Chinese city, people are busy adjusting themselves to the liberalised economy. The state-owned enterprises are being closed down and private enterprise is gaining currency. In the changed economic scenario, Kunming today has more than 250 star category hotels, of these about 24 are five star, which caters to the annual average of eight lakh international tourists. The tourism industry brings Yunan province 30 crore US dollars a year. To handle this traffic, the no-frills international airport at Kunming is an example of efficiency. However, till now, the city is not linked directly to any Indian city by air. One will have to go there via Bangkok or Singapore. With the lifting of trade barriers and the opening up of the Stilwell Road, and in case the proposed Trans Asian Railway (from Istanbul to Singapore via the Bogibeel Bridge near Dibrugarh) materialises, Assam in particular will have to get prepared for the resultant economic boom, feels a prominent economist here. He cited the example of the import of thousands of outsiders into the state by the Britishers to serve the tea gardens, and wanted the people to avert another such influx to the extent possible. He said that in the early 19th century, the locals of the state were unwilling to serve as labourers in the tea plantations, a decision that the future generations of the state's ethnic population is now resenting. According to one member of the Indian delegation who attended the Kunming conference this month, the Chinese are bent on opening up the traditional trade routes, which now comprise of India's Northeast, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Southern China. The representatives from Myanmar are said to be keen on the opening up of the Stilwell Road, provided Yangon does not have to spend money on that. With the region's mindset going on the right track, Assam can look forward to better days, the Indian member felt. It all depends on how soon the thoughts are transformed into reality.