Afghanistan to push for better regional connectivity at SAARC

New Delhi, September 23: At the second meeting of the SAARC transport ministers to be held on October 30-31 in Colombo, Afghanistan will propose some key inter-regional connectivity corridors to make access to the strife-torn country an easy affair. On the cards is air-connectivity to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, major road and rail links into Pakistan and India and a rail link connecting Kandahar to Karachi and thereon to other SARRC nations as well.

The 14th SAARC summit held in New Delhi in 2007 had announced that the SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study (SRMTS) would include new member Afghanistan as well. Following from that the Afghanistan Government has now submitted its country infrastructure report to the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu which is being examined by the SAARC member nations.

Saddled with a poor infrastructure, land-locked Afghanistan is focusing on “streamlining transit through Pakistan and Iran” — the two critical axes of trade routes for the country. Karachi-Kandahar railway that will connect Afghanistan to Pakistan through Quetta and Spinboldak has been proposed by the country as a SARRC regional transport corridor. Without any inland water transport option, the country is also keenly proposing air-connectivity to other countries. Presently, it has air-connectivity with only two SAARC members — India and Pakistan — and that has raised travel costs to the SAARC region considerably. Afghanistan now proposes that air-connectivity to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would provide it with new economic opportunities considering that 18 airports in the country are being upgraded.

Afghanistan has listed 12 possible inter-regional road corridors to link Kabul, Islamabad, Lahore, Delhi, Kathmandu, Kolkata and Dhaka for the consideration of the SAARC transport ministers’ meet.

In last year’s meet, India recommended road and rail corridors along Nepal-India-Bangladesh circuit along with air-connectivity to Male and Islamabad and also made a case for improving postal connectivity in the region.

The pilot projects recommended at the 14th SAARC summit, which will be decided at the Colombo meet:

Bhutan

Linkage from Phuntsholing to Hashimara

Procurement of customs related equipment for faster clearance of cargo India

Birgunj-Katihar-Singhabad-Rohanpur-Chittagong with links to Jogbani, Biratnagar and Agartala

Kathmandu-Birgunj-Kolkata/Haldia

Agartala-Akhaura-Chittagong

Air-connectivity: Malé-New Delhi and Islamabad-New Delhi Sri Lanka

Rail Corridor No. 5 between Colombo and Chennai

Ferry Service between Colombo & Cochin

Colombo & Tuticorin as two pilot projects

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