Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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While there is huge potential for the Central Corridor, it is unclear whether this potential can be
translated into concrete action and policy reform. The corridor objectives are based on extensive
research and well grounded, but aligning views and actions of nations is a political challenge that is
often independent from the validity of the arguments of the goals. Currently the Central Corridor is
still in the knowledge exchange phase. Three expert group meetings in 2017 had led to a draft MoU,
which is, as of the beginning of 2018, still to be signed by the member states. And even then, the
question remains how well the MoU converts into action. Crucial is the capacity and resources which
will be made available to the corridor secretariat to facilitate the development of the corridor.
Significant effort is required by international institutions, with UNESCAP in the lead, to push the
developments for the Central Corridor. A long road is still ahead.
Good practices corridor governance
Despite that the UNESCAP Central Corridor is still in its infancy, it is still possible to identify valuable
lessons from this corridor
 With UNESCAP being its main driver, the Central Corridor has support of an international
institution that has longstanding experience in interacting with actors in the region. At the same
time, UNESCAP has the legitimacy of being an independent partner;
 The Central Corridor is being developed adjacent to UNESCAP’s Northern Corridor and UNESCAP’s
Southern Corridor, with the intention to apply the same MoU and erect the same governance
institution to each corridor. This makes corridor development efficient, while also indicating that
governance principles are to same extent transferable between corridors;
 The UNESCAP corridor is rooted in extensive transport research. The objectives of each corridor is
based on decade long transport analysis undertaken by UNESCAP.
7.2 Case Study ASEAN Maritime Corridor
7.2.1 Introduction
This case study describes three interrelated concepts concerning the development of maritime
corridors in South East Asia:
 Indonesia’s national Sea Toll Road project, which can be considered as a project to develop national
maritime corridors in Indonesia;
 The ASEAN regional maritime connectivity plan, which sets the outlines for regional maritime
corridors;
 The Maritime Silk Road, as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The case study shows the need to take into account the complementarity between these three national
and regional initiatives on maritime corridor development.
Indonesia’s national Sea Toll Road project
In October 2014 the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, stated in his inaugural speech as president
that Indonesia must develop its vast sea resources to raise its maritime competitiveness. This policy
was further elaborated by President Joko Widodo during the 2014 East Asia Summit (EAS) in
Myanmar, where he presented the vision of transforming Indonesia into a global maritime fulcrum and
develop its maritime potential. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, with more
than 17,000 islands. Seas are very important for socio-economic development of the country and
national cohesion, requiring maritime connectivity. An improved maritime connectivity would