SAARC: India to propose road, rail links along Nepal, Bangla borders

As the first SAARC Transport Ministers’ meet comes to a close in New Delhi on Friday, India is set to propose two inter-regional road corridors along the Nepal-India and Bangladesh circuit apart from a rail corridor.

As the first SAARC Transport Ministers’ meet comes to a close in New Delhi on Friday, India is set to propose two inter-regional road corridors along the Nepal-India and Bangladesh circuit apart from a rail corridor. India will also suggest aviation corridors connecting New Delhi with two other SAARC nations.

The road corridors India will push for are likely to include a 1,323 long km stretch from Kathmandu via Birganj (Nepal) and Kolkata to Haldia. The other road corridor is likely to be the 1,394 km-long stretch from Kathmandu via Kakarvitta in Nepal and Phulbari in India to Chittagong in Bangladesh.

“India will propose two road corridors along the Nepal-India-Bangladesh axis alongwith a rail corridor and aviation links from New Delhi to two other nations. Afghanistan will also figure in the meet though there is no transport corridor planned for it as of now,” said a senior official.

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Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways T R Baalu will present India’s case at the meet on Friday. India has shortlisted these corridors from amongst a set of 10 road corridors, five rail corridors and several aviation gateways suggested in the regional multi-modal transport study submitted to the SAARC Secretariat in June 2006.

The SAARC Regional Multi-Modal Transport study which took off at 2004 SAARC Summit, calling for better connectivity, identifies important rail, road links, aviation gateways, inland waterways and sea ports that can help boost trade in the region.

The study points out that intra-regional trade in South Asia is very low. South Asia has a 4 million-km-long road network, which is 10 per cent of the global road system but is far from fully utilised. Inland waterway systems are only developed in India and Bangladesh.