India has extended a loan of $500m to Myanmar to help the country construct a trilateral highway linking India, Myanmar and Thailand to improve connectivity, increase trade and develop the regions economically.

The 3,200km trilateral highway project will also build and improve India’s north-eastern roads that will run into Myanmar, covering a total distance of over 1,600km. The project work will also include upgrading certain roads and bridges.

Myanmar will use $100m of the granted $500m loan to upgrade the roads inside the country as a part of the project.

India’s Bangkok ambassador Anil Wadhwa was quoted by The Nation as saying that the trilateral highway will link India with Myanmar all the way down to Mandalay.

"After that, we will connect with a place where the Thai authorities are building a highway, which is 63km from the Thai border into Myanmar," Wadhwa added.

"The trilateral highway project will allow freight and container trucks to move across the borders from India to Myanmar and Thailand via Chiang Rai and border towns.

"It will play a crucial role in boosting trade and investment flows in the three countries, creating jobs and other benefits."

India, with the investment, is expecting to not only benefit the north-eastern region of the country but also the four states that share the border with Myanmar.

The highway linking the three nations is expected to create an east-west economic corridor that will connect India with Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The feasibility of the project has been completed according to Wadhwa and the construction work has already begun. The trilateral highway is estimated to be completed by 2016.