Seamless Regional

Connectivity

Asian Institute of Transport Development

New Delhi, 3 February 2015

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

and Executive-Secretary of ESCAP

The “Doing Business” and

“Logistics Performance”

Indices

Transport and Trade

Turkey

Pakistan

Nepal

Bangladesh

India

Doing Business

2013

Logistics Performance

2014

Iran

Bhutan

Afghanistan

71

107

108

129

132

145

148

168

30

72

105

108

54

n.a.

143

158

(Source: World Bank – Doing Business 2013)

Transport Efficiency

Transport and Trade

Documents (number)

Time(days)

Cost (US$ per box)

East Asia&

Pacific6

(Source: World Bank – Doing Business 2013)

Exports Imports

Eastern Europe&

Central Asia

Latin America&

Caribbean

Middle East&

North Africa

OECD countries

South Asia

Documents (number)

Time(days)

Cost (US$ per box)

21 923 7 22 958

7 26 2,134 8 29 2,349

6 17 1,268 7 19 1,612

6 19 1,083 8 22 1,275

4 10 1,028 5 10 1,080

8 31 1,603 9 33 958

Facilitation

Transport and Trade

TransportFacilitation

conventions

Multilateral / bilateralagreements

Documentharmonization

South Asia

South-East Asia

North-East Asia

Central Asia

Western Asia

Joint controlAt border

Route openinglevel

Road / railBorder facilities

Limited Limited LimitedLimited on

one sideLow Partly

modernized

Some Many ManyMuch

progressHigh Mostly

modernized

Many Many Many Medium Mostlymodernized

High Manymodernized

High Manymodernized

Much progress

Many Many Many

Many Many Many

Much progress

Much progress

Low Connectivity and

Intra-regional Trade

Transport and Trade

East Asia

South-East Asia

South Asia

Central &

Western Asia

2011 share of

intra-regional trade

(per cent)

24.59

4.4

yes

yes

no

Overall trade recovery in 2010

To pre-2008 crisis

5.5

36.86

no

(Source: ESCAP Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the

Pacific Database of ADB Asian Regional Integration Centre)

Infrastructure

Transport and Wider Connectivity

Source: World Bank - Connecting to Compete - 2014

1. Quality of infrastructure (% of respondents)Low

incomeLower middle

incomeUpper middle

incomeHigh

income

Low or very low

High or very highRail

86 76 72 32

2 5 5 27

Low or very low

High or very highRoad

59 57 51 16

15 4 21 46

Low or very low

High or very highWarehousing /

Transloading facilities

59 51 17 10

10 12 26 61

Low or very low

High or very highTelecommunications & IT

25 18 14 7

23 27 39 77

Trans-Asian Railway Development Status

Bhutan

Moderately Developed Rail Infrastructure

Bangladesh

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Afghanistan Only one 75-km rail link (with Uzbekistan)

No rail link

Nepal Only one short rail link to India (from Birgunj ICD)

No or Limited Rail Infrastructure

India

Developed Rail Infrastructure

Challenges

Lack of connectivity

Limited cross-border flows, even where rail infrastructure is in place

Capacity constraints (Delhi – Kolkatta, Dhaka – Chittagong, Quetta – Ko’I’Taftan)

Lack of technical harmonization

8

ITI-DKD Container Corridor

Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad-Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka

Wider Asia-Pacific Region

vs. South Asia

Asian Highway Development Status

14.6% 15.6%

24%

Class III

33,837 km

Primary

20,915 km

Class I

22,213 km

Class II

53,924 km

Below

11,915 km

10 %

20 %

30 %

40 %

Region

South Asia 9,421 km447 km 5,319 km 6,860 km 3,055 km

1.7%

27.16%

27%

37.3%

12%

8.3%

38%

UNITED NATIONS

Network Integration through Intermodal Facilities

Challenges

Moving Ahead

Existing:

Missing links:

Total: 117,500 km

106,600 km

10,900 km

Thank you

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