By IANS
New Delhi : A rail corridor between Chennai and Colombo, a road from Agartala to Chittagong, flights between New Delhi and Islamabad – these were some of the ambitious ideas aimed at promoting greater connectivity in South Asia proposed at the first meeting of the SAARC transport ministers Friday.
India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka recommended nine sub-regional and regional projects, including a rail corridor between Colombo and Chennai, ferry service between Colombo and Cochin and air connectivity between Male and New Delhi to SAARC member states.
India also suggested linking Birgunj in Nepal, to Katihar in Bihar and Chittagong in Bangladesh and Agartala in Tripura.
“Members states would be examining the viability and desirability of these projects for reporting to the third meeting of the inter-governmental group on transport scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in the second of week of March next year,” a statement by the external affairs ministry said.
The meeting also discussed the report of the SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study (SRMTS) prepared and funded by the Asian Development Bank and recommended extending the study to include Afghanistan.
The participating ministers from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, also elected India’s Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T.R. Baalu as the chairperson of the meeting.
Baalu said there should be a focused list of road, rail, water and aviation corridors, which could be easily implemented.
The SAARC countries also examined the preliminary technical inputs provided by the Asian Development Bank and the alternate draft motor vehicles agreement proposed by India. The SAARC Secretariat would prepare the final draft after incorporating views of all member states.
The SAARC Regional Motor Vehicle Agreement, among other things, contains a proposal that citizens of any member country would be able to drive through the SAARC countries in their personal cars for personal purposes such as attending a friend’s wedding. The visitors would receive three-day visas and they would encounter minimum hassles at border check posts.
India made a presentation on postal connectivity in South Asia, which was appreciated by other SAARC countries.
India also tried to persuade Pakistan and Bangladesh to grant transit facilities, but there was no breakthrough over the transit issue.
In his speech at the 14th SAARC summit here in April, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made an impassioned plea to promote greater physical, economic and mental connectivity to achieve greater regional integration that is expected to bring nearly 1.5 billion people closer in the common pursuit of peace and prosperity.