ABSTRACT
North Eastern Region, India is very unique in its geographical set up by being landlocked. In order to open up this region, several transport infrastructure improvements and newly developments are in progress. This chapter specifically focuses on the future prospects of the region and examines how transport infrastructure improvements can boost up the regions directly and indirectly. For this study, we employ a Spatial Computable General Equilibrium model called Geographical Simulation Model (GSM) developed by Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO based on Spatial Economics. We examine six scenarios such as Major Road Development Programs in the NER, BIMSTEC Route in India (from Kolkata to Moreh), BIMSTEC Route in Bangladesh (from Kolkata to Cox’s Bazar), India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway (from Kolkata to the Thai border), Kaladan Multi–Modal Transit Transport Project, and all of these five scenarios. While the impacts of some projects are small, there are wider spatial economic impacts found from the international connectivity improvements from NER to Myanmar and beyond.
