The neighbouring China is aggressively upgrading infrastructure on their side of the border. On Sunday it opened a 409-km new expressway costing about $5.8 billion linking Tibet’s provincial capital Lhasa with Nyingchi, which is close to Arunachal Pradesh border. The expressway will reportedly cut travel time between two cities from existing eight to five hour. In recent year China has constructed several such highways, expressways and extensive rail network in the Tibet province which shares international boundary with several Indian states.
Most of the expressways in Tibet are also compatible for military equipment, providing advantage for the Chinese military to move its troops and weaponry faster. Unfortunately the road, rail and air connectivity on the Indian side especially in the state of Arunachal Pradesh is quite pathetic. The government of India has not made any serious effort to improve the infrastructure in the state. Road, rail and air connectivity is still very poor and unreliable. Despite the tall claim and promises hardly there has been any progress. The present situation should alarm the policymakers sitting at New Delhi. The relation between India and China continues to remain tensed. Recent Doklam standoff is classic example of the growing hostility between two Asian giants. Before it’s too late India need to fast track the effort to upgrade infrastructure in the border state like Arunachal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Kashmir which shares international boundary with a hostile neighbour like China.