Improving Transnational Transport Corridors
In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases
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interconnections. Many countries in the SSR and the Middle East do not even have railway
networks. The existing railways lack of investment and maintenance, and in some countries
the infrastructure is damaged due to conflict.
Road infrastructure is being the first choice of transport companies. However, missing road
links exist (especially at border areas) and affect trade negatively. In the major parts of the
Arab region, roads conditions are very good. In some countries, infrastructures have been
damaged or destroyed by war or other conflicts.
Harmonizing border management systems including customs controls has been a goal of
UNCTAD for 25 years or more. The Un organization came up with a customs control and
tracking system (ASYCUDA) that it set out to implement globally. Many countries have locked
into this. Sharing customs risk information as well as trade related documentation using digital
means is essential. Thus, agreements between countries of data exchange is as important as
efficient transport – the process known as Electronic Data Interchange needs full
implementation between corridor partners. This then leads to the installation of GNNS along
the corridor so that transiting trade and their modes of transportation may be tracked. The
report aims to cover all these aspects in various case studies.
Transport Corridors cannot be looked at in isolation, indeed without connecting networks they
would not function at all. (COMCEC, 2016) refers to developing transport infrastructure as a
powerful instrument for a wide variety of policy goals such as reducing logistics costs, poverty
(through enhancing rural road infrastructure) and congestion, and enabling the mobility of the
workforce. While for developed nations the challenge is to sustain the aging infrastructure in
the most cost-effective way, for least developed nations, it is to establish a transportation
infrastructure by meeting at least the basic needs. Roads are an important public asset as
improving of it can bring about immediate and large benefits by providing better access to
hospitals, schools, and markets; improved comfort, speed, and safety; and lower vehicle
operating costs. This document also concludes that the road network in most OIC countries is
not in a very good condition. The analyses point to a need for further development of the road
networks in the OIC Member Countries. When comparing the composition of the road network
in the OIC countries as a group to the road networks in the United States, and the European
Union as a whole, it shows that a large percentage of the total road networks in OIC countries
are motorways and highways. Such recognition of the weaknesses of current transport
infrastructure provides a good platform upon which improvements can be made.
4.2.7. Environmental and Energy Factors
Environmental and energy efficiency issues are almost absent in the transport corridor
development in Islamic countries, most likely due to wide availability of oil and its low prices.
As such, alternative fuels are viewed as unnecessary. Although there have been
implementations of policies that encourage the use of CNG in the Arab region, notably in Egypt.
Through the development of CNG infrastructure and by providing incentives to promote
switching to natural gas such as lowering natural gas prices and tax reduction on CNG
components, the Egyptian government has succeeded in increasing CNG vehicles in the