Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
28
Stakeholder consultation
A major challenge for an effective functioning of the corridors is the incorporation of different
stakeholders in the governance of the corridor. Stakeholders are required for the development of the
corridor and need to be consulted regularly to keep their support.
2.2.7 Capacity building: technical assistance and studies
Capacity building, in terms of technical assistance and studies, is an important corridor governance
domain that is sometimes neglected. This is confirmed by Kunaka and Carruthers (2014, p. 100) who
state that:
Capacity building for improved corridor management should be a critical component of any trade
corridor project—but it is often neglected, because of the absence of sustainable financing mechanisms.
Coordinating stakeholders is one of the main functions of corridor governance institutions, which is
complicated if governance institutions have limited means to perform their tasks. Financing capacity
building can be problematic as returns are not directly observable. One way to improve capacity is
through training. International organisations, such as World Bank, WTO and UN provide support in
this field.
Technical assistance
Technical assistance teams are set up to help the corridor management to perform their tasks. For
example, the Maputo corridor, TEN-T and SEETO are supported by parties providing technical
assistance to corridor secretariats. Technical assistance is used to increase capacity, ease the day-to-
day operations, facilitate communication with stakeholders and attract investors.
Carry out studies to support the corridor development. Disseminate study results
Studies on corridor performance or evaluations of corridormanagement contribute to implementation
or updating of action plans. shows the various corridor assessment techniques that help
determine the right course of action for a specific corridor.
Table 2.8 Various corridor assessment techniques
Scale of analysis Purpose
National or
Regional
 Determine impact of logistics performance on trade competitiveness;
 Compare performance against other countries;
 Identify major constraints and opportunities for improvements.
Entire length of a
corridor
 Benchmark performance against regional and international corridors;
 Identify main bottlenecks and their impact on cost, time and reliability;
 Collect baseline data.
Corridor
component
 Obtain detailed information to aid project design;
 Collect component-level baseline performance data;
 Design intervention measures.
Source: Kunaka & Carruthers (2014).
2.3 Levels of transport corridor governance
Governance of transport corridors is dynamic and may evolve over time. For example, TEN-T corridor
governance has shifted from a project-based approach in the 1980’s to a network-approach nowadays.
In this change of corridor governance, the seven defined governance domains have evolved as well.
Considering different transport corridors, it can be noted that there are different levels of corridor
governance.