‘Long overdue’: India ramps up border connectivity in bid to counter China’s expansion

India has accelerated its plan to boost infrastructure and connectivity in the volatile Ladakh region, a move seen as countering China’s rapid development along the disputed border.

The latest action centres on the third phase of the strategic India-China Border Project (ICBR) in eastern Ladakh, with observers saying the aim is to boost road networks and enable quicker movement of Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to counter China.

According to media reports, the Border Roads Organisation, with the Central Public Works Department and the National Projects Construction Corporation, has begun the third phase of the ICBR project.

M.S. Prathibha, an associate fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, told This Week in Asia that India had been increasingly concerned about the rapid expansion of infrastructural and dual-use capabilities that would help Chinese troops be deployed faster in the border areas.

“India’s vulnerability in even maintaining a strategically defensive posture has been challenging due to the gaps in logistics and troops mobility,” Prathiba said, adding that the ICBR projects were aimed at plugging such vulnerabilities should India face any military action from the Chinese side.

“It is to improve the overall capabilities of the Indian military that has been long overdue, especially involving logistics,” she added.

India’s border with China spans 3,488km across Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

In the third phase of the ICBR, out of 37 roads five new ones have been identified to be constructed in eastern Ladakh while nearly 70 per cent of the roads will be built in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Under the first phase, 73 roads of nearly 4000km