Nitin Gadkari as Asia's Transportation minister?

India is embarking on multi-model connectivity with central Asia and Europe. Roads, ports and trains from Singapore to Greece, Moscow and maybe Mongolia. We discuss how, where and why!

Mar 24, 2023

white and black truck near mountain at daytime — Photo by Rodrigo Abreu on Unsplash

The ambitions of the Modi government are global. We need to connect with nearby markets as India embarks upon the next wave of growth. And these connections have tremendous geopolitical implications. The opportunity has opened up with trouble created by the loan shark diplomacy employed by the Chinese for their BRI projects.

Map from WikiCommons (hence the wrong depiction of Kashmir & China border) modified by Rahul Deodhar 2022

International North-South Transport Corridor 2002

This joint initiative between Russia, Iran and India will create connectivity between Mumbai, Chabahar, Iran and Moscow. India developed Chabahar port, and some intermediate rail links and roadways are already operational.

This develops access to central Asia and East Europe.

Ashgabat Agreement 2011

Ashgabat Agreement was instituted in April 2011 to establish an international multimodal transport and transit corridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. The agreement is between Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Oman and Qatar Kazakhstan and Pakistan joined in 2016, and India joined in 2018. Pakistan is no longer a factor in this equation.

This multi-modal corridor will plug into the International North-South Transport Corridor.

Chabahar-Kabul Corridor

This is already operational, connecting Chabahar port with land-locked Afghanistan. This project's full benefits and investment potential will not be realised until there is peace in Afghanistan. Yet this is one of the only safe passages for goods and trade into Afghanistan.

India Europe Trade Corridor

This multi-modal connects India with the Middle East and West Europe. The newfound convergence of interests between Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel and Jordan has opened an opportunity for development and trade access through this region. There are two routes via Dubai or Abu Dhabi and the other via Oman.

Asia-Africa Growth Corridor

This Multi-modal growth corridor is also being explored jointly with African nations, with Japan and East Asia involved. The vision document has been published, but the possible routes and investment details have not yet been announced.

The GAME Changer future projects

Some other projects may have very high geopolitical significance.

First, the expansion of the Chabahar-Kabul corridor straight to Mongolia via Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. India has already began established an air corridor with Mongolia. The land corridor will allow for an alternate route.

Second, a corridor on the other side of the Caspian sea covering Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Tashkent, and Samarkand, tying them to Chabahar on one side and connecting into India via Gilgit Baltistan on another side.

Are these white elephants, or will there be real benefits?

Following the challenges coming up on BRI execution, this is a legitimate question. BRI imposed high-cost debt for participating countries while focusing on Chinese goals and benefits. But unlike BRI, there are indeed benefits.

Unlike BRI, these projects are driven by the countries, with cheaper and fair finance sourced globally, serving local needs. The projects will create actual benefits for participating countries.
Only India has the scale to create infrastructure at the pace and quality across the region, as we demonstrate within India.
The capital costs will be lower since the participating countries include Japan and Middle Eastern countries with access to cheap capital.
The projects will open up opportunities for other infrastructure development (metro, trains, buses, ships, electricity grids, green energy, water management infrastructure) in the area by Indian companies.
The countries being connected have good potential for Indian exports in food and agriculture, media, manufacturing, technology etc.
The corridors taken together will integrate Eurasian economies profoundly. It will be possible for East Asian countries to access the Central Asian markets and vice-versa, with India as a significant hub.
If BRI is successful, these corridors will become cheaper to construct and have higher economic benefits. This will improve their viability twice over.
Between Border Roads Organisation, Konkan Rail and Mumbai and Delhi Metro, Indian infrastructure development knows how to conquer adverse terrain.
I hope we develop an extensive Railway network alongside the road network to reduce long-distance transportation costs and environmental impact.
Finally, India has goodwill with central Asia, Arabia and Europe that China cannot match. Thus, India is best positioned to oversee and execute these projects.

In Sum

To undertake something of this scale and capacity, we need an economically powerful India with a strong government with superior execution skills.

It will be apt if Nitin Gadkari can take up this challenge. From Mumbai's infrastructure to India’s transportation network, it will be a logical step for him to use his expertise to connect Eurasia.

If you see the routes on the map, you will realise these trade routes existed even before the times of Alexander. We will simply be modernising known corridors. These corridors once created a lot of wealth for India, Asia and Arabia. They can do so once again.