Myanmar Unrest Halts Asian Highway Project: S Jaishankar

26 Feb 2025 CW Team

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral (IMTT) Highway, a key project under India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy, has been stalled due to the ongoing unrest in Myanmar. Speaking at the Advantage Assam Summit in Guwahati, he stressed the importance of finding practical solutions to advance the initiative, despite current challenges. The 1,400-km highway, which aims to strengthen trade, business, health, education, and tourism ties between India, Myanmar, and Thailand, is expected to connect Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar. By July 2023, about 70% of the construction work had been completed, but the project has faced repeated delays, missing its earlier target of a December 2019 launch. Jaishankar highlighted India’s growing engagement with ASEAN nations and the progress made with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar. He also noted the increasing role of Japan and South Korea in northeast India’s development and the potential for expanded partnerships in education, skill development, and mobility. Despite the challenges, Jaishankar reaffirmed the Modi government’s commitment to the ‘Act East, Act Fast, and Act First’ approach, emphasising the need for continued regional cooperation to drive growth. (NDTV)

Equipment

25 Apr 2025

Handling concrete better

Efficiently handling the transportation and placement of concrete is essential to help maintain the quality of construction, meet project timelines by minimising downtimes, and reduce costs – by 5 to 15 per cent, according to Sandeep Jain, Director, Arkade Developers. CW explores what the efficient handling of concrete entails.Select wellFirst, a word on choosing the right equipment, such as a mixer with a capacity aligned to the volume required onsite, from Vaibhav Kulkarni, Concrete Expert. “An overly large mixer will increase the idle time (and cost), while one that ..

Elevated floors!

Raised access flooring, also called false flooring, is a less common interiors feature than false ceilings, but it has as many uses – if not more.A raised floor is a modular panel installed above the structural floor. The space beneath the raised flooring is typically used to accommodate utilities such as electrical cables, plumbing and HVAC systems. And so, raised flooring is usually associated with buildings with heavy cabling and precise air distribution needs, such as data centres.That said, CW interacted with designers and architects and discovered that false flooring can come in handy ..

The Variation Challenge

A variation or change in scope clause is defined in construction contracts to take care of situations arising from change in the defined scope of work. Such changes may arise due to factors such as additions or deletions in the scope of work, modifications in the type, grade or specifications of materials, alterations in specifications or drawings, and acts or omissions of other contractors. Further, ineffective planning, inadequate investigations or surveys and requests from the employer or those within the project’s area of influence can contribute to changes in the scope of work. Ext..