Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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Iyengar (2014) there is thus an important complementary role to be played by the governance
of institutions in enhancing South Asia’s regional infrastructure. In the European Union, De and
Iyengar (2014) see the proof that good governance in institutions that facilitate the
development of regional infrastructure does matter. Poor governance isolates countries from
good global markets.
Byiers and Vanheukelom (2014) put the question forward what are the drives of regional
economic integration? Analyzing the Maputo Development Corridor and the North-South
Corridor (Luanda-Durban), he finds that “While regional integration is taking place across the
continent, it is not happening at the pace and the scope that the institutional architects in the
Regional Economic Communities and their member states had agreed upon. Southern Africa is
no exception. In looking for answers as to what obstructs or what drives regional integration,
this study focuses on one particular type of integration process: cross- border transport
corridors.” Byiers and Vanheukelom (2014) distinguish hard and soft infrastructure, and
points at the relevance of analysis of the political economy of transport corridors.
2.5.3. Cost of transport
The case of Myanmar (Asian Development Bank, 2016) shows how corridors can help to
reduce transportation costs. Demand for transport in Myanmar is characterized by a high
mobility of the population and a relatively low mobility of goods. Since 2007 this demand for
transportation has undergone a deep transformation as consequence of economic policy
measures: lifting of constraints and high taxes on private owned vehicles, and reducing
subsidization of public transportation at the same time. “As a result, the market share of public
transport operators has collapsed and in 2014 remained on a declining trend.”