Transport Connectivity in South Asia and Beyond

Transcription

1 High-Level Policy Dialogue on Challenges facing the Sub-Region December 2011, New Delhi Transport Connectivity in South Asia and Beyond Asian Institute of Transport Development

2 Past to Ponder In the sixteenth century, the Indian subcontinent comprising much of South Asia accounted for about a quarter of the world s GDP. By the middle of 20th century, this share had declined to barely 2 percent. In the last 20 years, South Asian countries have just doubled their per capita income; China has increased it six times; and the rest of East Asian countries have trebled or quadrupled theirs.

3 Regional cooperation has not delivered either on promise or potential. Hostage to closed and divisive mindsets, distrust of neighbours and institutional insensitivity to high incidence of poverty. Restrictive policy regimes have neutralized the beneficial effects of common cultural affinity, common geography, and the gravitational pull of proximity on movement of goods and people. Presently, South Asia has the least reported intraregional trade of any developing country grouping.

4 Snapped Links and Consequences Division of the sub-continent led to creation of extensive land borders (7419 km), mostly unnatural and porous disrupting geographic space, economic and transport linkages. Rail and IWT transit across the then East Pakistan continued till 1965 and was then suspended. Only IWT transit restored in Transit through Pakistan stands suspended. Border management led to closure of historical land routes at several points. North-East India virtually became a landlocked territory.

5 Half-hearted and Faltering Steps Present levels of connectivity and services are a mere reflection of the restrictive policy regimes. Six decades have seen only half-hearted steps to restore some of the transport linkages. Land transport facilitation agreements still not finalized. Meanwhile, incompatible transport technology platforms have emerged, impairing interoperability of cross-border services, particularly of rail transport.

6 Economic Cost of Disruption In 1948, intra-south Asia trade was 18 percent of the total trade and today s border area were relatively wealthy. By 2010, this share dropped to mere 6-7 percent. Trade transaction costs are high ranging between percent of the commodity value compared to 7-8 percent in developed countries. Additional burden on transport costs due to bottlenecks at land crossing stations between Bangladesh and India work out to US$ 8 to 10 per tonne of freight.

7 A 20 container takes at least 30 days to move between New Delhi and Dhaka via circuitous routes, and costs around US$2500, but by land transport it could reach its destination in about 5-6 days with around one fourth of the cost. Large volume of trade between India and Pakistan is routed through Dubai.

8 Skewed transport interchange matrix between Bangladesh and India is a classic example of the closed mindsets. Transit through Bangladesh* Element Rail Road Waterways Access of vehicles/ vessels across the border Passport requirement for the crew Visa requirement for the crew Presently not allowed. Presently not allowed. Allowed. There is a protocol between the two countries on Inland Water Transport and Trade (04/10/99), derived directly from the provisions of Article VIII of the Trade Agreement. Goods trains from India are allowed upto the next station across the border. While the locomotive is returned with or without a load, wagons are left behind for commercial handling, for which the Bangladesh Railways pay detention charges to Indian Railways. Different practices prevail: in case of Petrapol-Benapol interchange point, road vehicles are permitted up to the customs warehouses in Benapol situated one km away from the border. At Dawki-Tamabil interchange point, road vehicles carrying coal permitted up to coal dump at a distance of three km from the border. Vessels belonging to the two countries permitted to ply over the designated waterway routes and up to the designated riverine terminals. Transportation of cargo is shared equally between the two countries. Yes No Yes N. A. Multiple entry visas valid for a period of one year are granted to the railway staff to be on duty in connection with interchange of rail traffic. At the Petrapole-Benapole interchange point, the truck crew are allowed up to the warehouses without any passport or official permit. In case of Dawki-Tamabil interchange point, the Bangladesh customs authorities issue a temporary permit valid for specified hours impounding the driving licence of the truck driver. Officers supervising or controlling the fleet of the operators in either country are required to carry passports endorsed with multiple entry visas. For personnel manning vessels, no visa required. N. A. Ropeway/ Conveyor Belt There is a seven km long elevated conveyor belt of Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt. Ltd. from the crusher site of the company, passing along a 40 metre wide strip of land comprising villages of Phlangkaruh, Bamantilla and Umkhaba on the west and Pyrkan, Kalatek villages and river Umiam on the east to Mantrikhal village of Bangladesh Note : 1.* Article VIII of the trade agreement lays down: the two governments agree to make mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of their waterways, roadways and railways for commerce between the two countries for passage of goods between two places in one country through the territory of the above. 2.** Limestone and shale transportation over a 17 km long belt conveyor from a query in Meghalaya to Sunamgarh in Bangladesh. N. A.

9 The World Shows the Way Transport and communications form an important component of regional cooperation ASEAN, NAFTA, MERCOSUR, SADC. Emergence of Trans-European transport networks. Development of new inter-country corridors TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia), ECO.

10 Iran Develops Rail Network only for Transit Traffic

11 Kazakhstan Builds Rail Route to Link Europe with China

12 Jordan Developing Rail Links for Transit Traffic

13 Asian Highway Route Map

14 Trans-Asian Railway

15 Beneficial Impact of Transshipment Traffic Transshipment traffic would account for trade in services and thus benefit the trade between the transit countries. The additional traffic would improve the viability of the relatively smaller rail systems which presently do not have the minimum critical mass. Experts have estimated about 18 million tonnes of inter-state and international traffic for Bangladesh as a transport hub for south and south-east Asian region.

16 Recent Initiatives SAARC multimodal transport study has identified key priority transport corridors such as: Central Asia-South Asia via Afghanistan & Pakistan East Asia-South Asia via Myanmar & Bangladesh SAARC Declaration of as decade of intraregional connectivity. Recent agreement on regional connectivity between Bangladesh and India during Recent initiative of Bangladesh to sell seaport services to Bhutan, India and Nepal.

17 India has also agreed to provide transit facilities for traffic from these sea ports in Bangladesh for destinations in Bhutan and Nepal. Designating a new port of call and transshipment port on the inland waterways of Bangladesh for onward connectivity to Tripura in India. Allowing bilateral container traffic between India and Bangladesh to be carried by both rail and IWT. Extending the Indian Railways network to the inland container depots in Nepal and Bhutan. Opening of new trading points along the border between India and Bangladesh. Reintroduction of suspended ferry services between Sri Lanka and India.

18 Benefits of Proximity Distance does matter, more so in the context of looming depletion of fossil fuels. Rising freight charges will give a fillip to the trend towards making products closer to the market. Regional rather than global production networks are likely to become more important in future. Availability and access to relevant technologies in the neighbouring countries would be costeffective in the long run and would also bring about harmonization of transport technologies.

19 Direction Markers Pending integration at the regional level, subregional cooperation could yield substantial benefits. Subregional building blocks would facilitate longterm development of regional networks. There is considerable merit in following a path of unilateral initiatives as the long-term benefits would far outweigh the short-term costs. Restoration of the transport links by rail, road and waterways would involve minimal investments and would result in maximum benefits in the shortest time-frame.

20 Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway networks would facilitate emergence of new land transport linkages at the regional level. Chittagong port provides the most cost-effective link for the North-eastern part of India. Restoration of exchange of goods and produce of local economies would mitigate the hardship of the people living along the borders. Need for providing road links to the informal markets at the borders for exchange of goods and produce.

21 In the eastern and north-eastern parts of the subcontinent, riverine routes can provide a costeffective and environment-friendly mode. Projects that have a regional footprint like a bridge over river Jamuna should be treated as regional projects so as to reflect the larger gains to the economies. Multilateral bodies should prepare and fund transport projects on inter-country network basis. Overland multimodal transport infrastructure should be encouraged to gain benefits in terms of cost reduction, speedy and safe movement of goods.

22 Softer but Important Measures Fuller benefits of infrastructure facilities cannot be achieved unless parallel measures are taken to improve procedural and operational efficiency. A set of international conventions and agreements which facilitate cross-border movements by different modes of transport have evolved over the past 50 years and have been operationally tested in Europe and other member countries of the United Nations.

23 An off the peg system is available with the added advantage that the necessary documentation has already been developed. This provides an opportunity to compress the time-scale to evolve a framework for land transport facilitation in South Asia. The international conventions describe general principles and leave the details to be agreed on a bilateral or multilateral basis. They do not cause any infringement of the sovereignty of the country.

24 Promotion of Socially Beneficial Modes of Transport Railways and inland water transport should be promoted in the sub-continent keeping in view their relatively benign impact on environment and the growing scarcity of fossil fuels. Changes in technology and operating environment require far-reaching transformations in the skill set of the personnel. Relatively smaller systems do not have the necessary wherewithal to support training institutions in all disciplines. Apparent need for cooperative effort in the area of human resource development.

25 NGO Initiatives Regional cooperation need not be only at the government level. Non-government organisations having a regional base also have an important role to play. UNESCAP Ministerial Conference (2006) noted with appreciation the valuable role of the Asian Institute of Transport Development in arranging training courses for railway personnel from South and South-East Asia to assist in the development of the Trans-Asian Railway network.

26 AITD s Contributions Asian Railways Association established to promote cooperative research, harmonization of hardware technologies and operational practices. Nurturing merit and talent through award of scholarships is one of the noblest initiatives of AITD. Programme has been extended to South and South-East Asian countries. Need for building an adequate corpus with contributions from the member countries to support the programme on a long-term basis.

27 Mobilization of Resources Extension of line of credit by member countries for executing transport projects. Resources provided by multilateral funding agencies ADB, World Bank, etc. for infrastructure development. Garnering of funds through the mechanism of publicprivate partnerships. Mobilization of additional resources by levy of a fee on EXIM traffic to be used for upgradation of facilities at the borders. Setting up of a dedicated infrastructure fund with contributions from the member countries and multilateral bodies.

28 South Asia and Beyond Linkages Transport projects are an essential component under various regional groupings (SAARC, BIMSTEC, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation). Need for their integration. Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway networks would provide the regional linkages. Need for countries to sign operational agreements. Bilateral or sub-regional initiatives would be instrumental in providing the necessary connectivity.

29 Some of the initiatives underway are: Kaladan multimodal transport project between Indian ports on the eastern seaboard and Sittwe Port in Myanmar and its inland extension. Upgradation of inter-country road linkages like Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo road in Myanmar. Revitalization of Stillwell Road from Ledo in India to Myanmar. Pakistan-Iran rail link (Karman-Zahidan).

30 New Silk Route The idea of a New Silk Route linking South Asia to Central Asia via Afghanistan to revive the land links that are nearly 2500 year through a network of routes that moved merchants and preachers, goods and ideas across the vast Eurasian landmass. For Kabul turning Afghanistan into Asia s roundabout is at the heart of the strategy to make it economically self sustaining. Building a New Silk Route has become a major component of the global strategy to secure Afghanistan s future beyond 2014.

31 The Take-away Transport networks are basic instruments for economic growth and poverty alleviation. Make use of infrastructure already in place in the region. Make borders irrelevant and aim at integrated seamless South Asia. Promote investment in inter-country infrastructure. Develop socially beneficial modes of transport. Regional rather than global production networks are likely to become more important in future.

32 Take advantage of pull of proximity on movement of goods and people. Historic opportunity to be a part of resurgent Asia. Noticeable shift in epicentre of trade from West to East. Regional integration would strengthen democratic polity that has emerged in South Asia. Technical issues must not be held hostage to antagonistic political environment.