Connecting Bangladesh: Economic Corridor Network

Abstract

The development of a comprehensive integrated multimodal economic corridor network (CIMECON) is a precondition for sustaining robust economic growth over the long term, hence the continuous efforts to identify the optimal set of economic corridors. Economic corridors are anchored in transport corridors, and international experience suggests that the higher the level of connectivity within and across countries, the higher the level of economic growth. Bangladesh has many options for developing transport-anchored economic corridors. The Government of Bangladesh, the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Program, and the Asian Highway planners have produced a list of 16-corridor network, which might be useful, but is rather complex and could not be very functional without any sort of prioritization. In this paper, a new set of corridors for Bangladesh is being proposed: a nine-corridor CIMECON resembling the London Tube map. The nine corridors of CIMECON would satisfy market-integration and linkage criteria, and their development is expected to improve regional connectivity, transit, and integration, as facilitation measures are designed and put in place. The CIMECON is about improving connectivity within Bangladesh and enhancing Bangladesh’s role as the land bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia (via Myanmar) and between South Asia and northern Asia (via the People’s Republic of China). For this goal to be realized, the optimal timing of investments in the components of CIMECON will be critical.