China has constructed roads from its major highways and defence installations to all strategic passes and military units along its border with India,the Defence Ministry has said in its latest report on infrastructure development along the Sino-Indian border. The ministry has noted that as many as 37 roads have been constructed to key passes and military units along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector that predominantly consists of the state of Arunachal Pradesh that is claimed by Beijing. China has constructed roads from all highways,logistic centres and major defence installations to all the passes and military on the Line of Actual Control/International Border, the ministry has said in its action taken report on the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Defence presented in Parliament on Thursday. It says while all major highways near the border have been converted into black-topped two-lane roads,several smaller roads connect them to the border. The ministry says eight roads in the western sector,four in the central and 37 in the eastern sector link all Chinese military bases with its highways. The report notes China has taken great interest in developing the 1,739 km Stillwell Road that connects Assam to Kunming in Yunan province of South China through the Pangsau pass on the India Myanmar border and says several stretches of the road in Myanmar are being constructed by pro-Chinese companies. The ministry lists the 192 Myitkyina-Tanai stretch of the road as an example and says that the Myanmarese Yazana company that is constructing it has pro-China leanings. In the report,Defence Minister A K Antony has said India is putting maximum effort to put its roads along the border with China on the fast track. Maximum effort is being put into building the 73 Indo-China border roads (ICBR) wherein 61 units have been moved to J&K,seven in Himachal,46 in Arunchal and 21 in Sikkim, he said. He said the delays in obtaining forest clearances and inadequate availability of air effort were the main reasons behind delay in the commissioning of 116 roads that have a total length of 3,765 km.
