The Middle Corridor, connecting China to Europe via Central Asia, needs significant investments to transform into a valid transport option. The World Bank recently published a report underlining the advantages for European and Central Asian countries should they choose to contribute to these investments.
The document “finds that strategic investments in the emerging Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC), also known as the Middle Corridor, could more than triple trade volumes along the route, halve travel times, boost GDP by 3.3%, and create 2 million more jobs by 2040”, the World Bank said.
‘Volumes could grow 4x’’
If the proper reforms are implemented “corridor volumes could quadruple and travel times could fall by two-thirds by 2040”, it added. On the other hand, it also pointed out that the estimated needed investments to unlock the full potential of the Middle Corridor is around $55 billion (€48.5bn). This represents a massive economic effort, though interest is increasing.
More specifically, the World Bank said that $25 billion (€22bn) are needed in physical infrastructure investments until 2040. Many of them are already underway, but they alone will not be a solution to all problems. The remaining funds, the Bank argued, need to be “enabling investments”. These include connecting the main networks to local economies, improving the rolling stock fleets and implementing digital systems.