Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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4.8.7. Technical and Operational Factors
Among the various categories of physical infrastructure, the most relevant to regional
integration are those needed to facilitate the movement of goods and individuals (for example,
roads, railways, and ports). Other important infrastructure needs center around the exchange
of services (such as pipelines, power grids, and telecommunication lines). The corridor
countries are well connected through roads and air transport, but substantial investment is
needed to improve the quality of road transport. The interconnectivity of energy (through
electricity grids and gas pipelines) is limited, but a number of investment projects are under
development. Telecommunications is relatively well advanced. Most of the 31,000 km of roads
called for in the Agreement on International Roads are in use, but they are not always of good
quality. Rehabilitation and upgrading of certain sections of the existing network have become
an imperative in many member countries.
Although the corridor countries have a relatively good road infrastructure, trucking services
are unsatisfactory because of the continued use of outdated vehicles, excess capacity and an
inappropriate industrial structure of the road freight industry. Road transport has the
potential to be the least cost alternative and the fastest time mode for most freight movements
between the corridor countries. Yet, significant restructuring of road freight industries is
needed for this potential to be realized. Improvement in trucking services has a greater
potential to better facilitate trade than most other proposed measures, and therefore merits
most attention. The demand for road transport in the Arab world remains high mainly due to
high-standard road infrastructure in the region, the low cost of fuel in some Arab countries, the
absence of significant fees for road transport and the insufficiency of the existing railway
network to cope with the demand for land transport.
Rail freight transport is negligible (other than for Jordanian and Syrian phosphate exports).
Rail services in the region are underdeveloped but could provide shorter times and
comparable costs for routes to Europe. Within the corridor countries, many of the transit
distances are too short for rail to be competitive with road transport. Combined road/sea
services between Iraq and Europe have the potential to offer shorter times and lower costs
than all-sea or combined road-sea alternatives. However, once investment in Jordan is made to
upgrade its narrow gauge (1,050mm) railways to standards gauge, then Turkey, Syria, Jordan,
and Saudi Arabia will be connected. Once this is done the transit distance that benefit the
economics of rail will surely be realized. Oil products, phosphates, other minerals, as well as
containerized goods will be attracted to use the railway.
Although some free trade zones have managed to attract manufacturing and distribution
industries, the region still lacks an effective distribution center for import goods or for their
reprocessing into value-added export products. There are programs to develop production
clusters for both domestic markets and exports in all corridor countries but Jordan has
progressed to implementation while the other countries are still in the planning stage.