Monday ,Dec 27,2010
SGGP
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday it would provide a technical assistance grant to support the establishment of a railway coordination office in the five Mekong nations where railways have developed independently.
The bank did not say how much the grant is, but said it aims to help the Greater Mekong Subregion countries achieve greater connectivity through coordinated railway development.
The GMS is made up of Cambodia, China’s Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The GMS countries’ national railways are not interconnected, with the exception of a connection between China and Vietnam.
 |
| File photo shows passengers at Saigon Railway Station in Ho Chi Minh City. As the Mekong countries’ national railways are not interconnected, with the exception of a connection between China and Vietnam, the Asian Development Bank says it will provide a grant to help the nations establish a railway coordination office. (Photo: Tuong Thuy) |
The Philippines-based bank said its grant would assist the Mekong nations in preparing a detailed plan to set up the railway coordination office, including a business and a financing plan for its first five years of operation. The countries will jointly manage the coordination office, according to ADB.
“The initiative to establish the railway coordination office reflects the growing realization by the GMS countries of the need for an interconnected and integrated railway network in the subregion,” James Lynch, director for transport and urban development in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, said in the bank’s Monday announcement.
“Integrating railways does not only involve investing in infrastructure, which in itself is difficult due to technical and operational differences among the countries’ railways,” he added.
He also said in the statement that integration entails reconciling and harmonizing the software aspects of the transport sector such as compatible immigration, customs, and health regulations and procedures at the borders, as well as systems for fair and efficient handling of administrative functions such as ticketing and revenue distribution.
The railway coordination office will provide the venue and mechanisms for addressing such issues, according to the provider of the grant.
ADB added that recognizing an integrated railway system offers an efficient and environment-friendly transport mode to link their economies, the Mekong countries requested the bank’s assistance in undertaking a sub-regional railway strategy study in 2009.
The study led to the development of a strategic framework for connecting GMS railways, which recommends the establishment of the coordination office.
The 16th GMS Ministerial Conference held in Hanoi in August this year endorsed the GMS railways framework.
No comments:
Post a Comment