Bimstec...

Bimstec has been slow in stitching up connectivity plans which made the region -- a population of about 1.5 billion and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.7 trillion -- lagging behind in intra-region trade and people to people movement.

A Bimstec Transport Infrastructure and Logistics Study (BTILS) was completed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding in November 2007. Since then, the plan went through many discussion processes, but a definite forward movement was far from sight.

“The objective of this Bimstec Transport Connectivity Master Plan is to provide a framework to the organisation for enhancing transport connectivity between and across its member states. The plan provides broad strategies and actions to strengthen Bimstec connectivity,” says the draft report.

The plan complements the plans of other regional organisations or groupings with overlapping geographical territory, such as those of the Association of South-east Nations (Asean), the Ayeyarwaddy-chao Phryamekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs), the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Indian Rim Association (Iora), and the Mekong-ganga Cooperation (MGC) program.

The plan underlines the fact that lack of a regional connectivity plans hampered the economic progress of the region that has an annual average economic growth rates of between 3.4% and 7.5% between 2012 and 2016. India has the largest regional economy, followed by Thailand and Bangladesh. To put in perspective, one quarter of the world’s traded goods cross the Bay of Bengal.

“But while the region is of vital strategic importance, the Bimstec member states are not closely integrated and indeed were more closely integrated 50 years ago,” says the draft master plan.

Although the Bimstec region has been one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the world, intra-regional trade accounts for only about 5% of the total trade in the region, compared to 26% of the total trade within Asean, 52% of the total trade in the countries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), and 58% of the total trade within the European Union.

“Road transport accounts for about 70% of the freight movement within the Bimstec region and dominates the overall regional transport system. That said, Bimstec has one of the largest railway networks in the world. The region is also interconnected by both mainline and deep-sea container and feeder ships distributing containers throughout the region from hub ports... In addition, there are over 200 flights linking regional destinations,” says the draft plan, which urges countries to identify the right projects.

Some of the arterial links the plan includes are the India-myanmar-thailand trilateral highway, the Kolkata-birgunj and Kolkata-kathmandu links, the Dhaka-chittagong corridor, the Kolkata-siliguri-guwahati-imphal link, and the Kandy-colombo link. The report also calls for better facilitation of cargo movements between the coun- tries.

“Bimstec should immediately complete the ongoing transport corridor for better integration of the region. The member states should take help from funding agencies such as the Asian Development Bank for the same,” said Sachin Chaturvedi, director general of New Delhibased think-tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).