Speeches: Masoud Khansari, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Roads & Transportation, Iran
In the name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful
(click on photo to enlarge)
by Mr. Khaansari
Iranian Deputy Minister of Road and
Transport and President of the Transport and Terminals
Organization
October 2003, Tehran
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
Over the last two decades the global economy and
international economic relations have experienced radical changes and enormous
developments. In the same period, the economic cooperation has increased and
international and regional organizations have been successful in trade
facilitation. International trade, as the biggest global business, provides each
and every single country and region with the opportunity to exchange goods and
services on the basis of the comparative advantages.
Globalization, as the century's phenomenon, is the
result of the expanded goods transactions across the globe as well as enhanced
business logistics based on the increased international competitiveness. This
comprehensive process develops global single market.
On the other hand and following the evolution of the
new development notion at the end of the 20s century, national
economies
realized that these developments and changes might deprive them
from comparative advantage, for the more changes occurred the less possibility
for specialty would arise. Therefore, regional cooperation with development
orientation was developed, where new economic relations and production cycle
emerged. Regionalism or staged production process evolved from expansion of the
trade and business logistic services in the course of the final decade of the
second millennium. These processes have changed the global industrial,
manufacturing and skill-driven geography.
The integration of the national, regional and global
economies as well as increased international competition is the major outcome of
the globalization process. Inter and intra regional cooperation constitutes the
primary stage in this context. On the other hand, the future development of a
given region depends mainly on its technical, economic, political and historic
structures while infrastructures, as the physical factor of development and real
national and regional assets, are based on the long-run investments. As
conducted studies show, the interactions among and within infrastructures in all
economic, social, political, environmental and technical areas is undeniable.
Moreover, successful growth and development of the countries and cities relates
directly with the level of their infrastructure development. In addition, the
success of a given country is not solely attributed to its own infrastructure
and is influenced by the regional infrastructures as well.
The
transport-friendly infrastructure facilitates international trade through easy
movement of the manufactured goods.
The transport infrastructures are
capital goods, which are not paid by the end-users, particularly in road
transport. These infrastructures are always considered as the main external
economic resources for different economic and manufacturing
activities.
The rich transport infrastructures reduce the transport
costs and save the time, thereby changing the production and consumption
patterns of the society and re-distributing the benefits among economic groups
or regions. Investments in the transport infrastructures increase productivity
and reduce labor demand and other investments. This can be seen at the
enterprise as well as country and regional levels. The transport infrastructures
have also an effect on the investment and employment in the private sector. This
happens through lesser access charges and final transport costs. The recent
studies illustrate the fact that investment in the transit infrastructure can
double investment-labor force ratio. On the other hand, lack of investments or
unfitted infrastructure in transport sector (on the grounds that policy-makers
prefer not to increase public expenditure and taxes) will result in the absence
of competition-friendly environment in the long term.
Many researchers
believe that the productivity reduction in the 1970 in United States was mainly
attributed to the lack of investments in the infrastructural sectors. In the
current days of rapid globalization, insufficient investment in the transport
infrastructure will jeopardize the future of the national economy from a
regional perspective.
It should be realized that the national
competitiveness in the individual countries of European Community is now
transformed into the EU competitiveness. The transport infrastructures of the
adjacent countries and regions affect the overall EU development.
Iran's
transport routes can bridge the distance between major global economies such as
EU, ASEAN, ASEAN+3 or other Asian dynamic economies. Due to its geographical
location where east-west and north-south (south Asia and north Europe) trade
corridors meet, Iran is able to carry goods through its safe, secure, short and
cost-saving routes with high transport standards.
The road networks in
Iran, which are being developed with transit approach, are well placed to play
abovementioned role. The smooth traffic of goods through Iran's routes not only
promotes international trade and enforces the comparative advantages of the
countries along the corridors but also cuts the transit length short and reduces
the overall costs of the economic development.
In this regards, the
following measures are being implemented:
a) Iran's Road transport
indices
- accounting for more than 90 percent of overall
transport of goods in the Country
- accounting for more than 95 percent of the overall
mobilization of passengers in the Country
- accounting for more than 90 percent of added values
in the transport sector which corresponds to the 10.5 percent of the GDP
b) Current situation and ongoing road transport
projects
The regional developments in the last decade have augmented
transit traffic across the Iran by an annual average of 4 percent, with road
transport networks taking 76 percent of the total. In order to facilitate
transit flows in Iran the following measures have already been taken:
construction of 123 services-supplying complexes, out of which 57 complexes have
already began their work; construction of 14 border terminals and their
mechanization for the purpose of time-saving; and the restructuring and
construction of new transit routes. The transit network in Iran exceeds 18700 km
including 156 km of freeways, 236 km of highways, 12346 km of main roads, 2299
km of rural roads and 1552 km of other kinds of road networks. Other measures
include operationalization of the North-South corridor and developing and
equipping Caspian Sea port of Amirabad; establishment of a ministerial-level
coordinating committee comprising of transit-related ministers and heads of
organizations; designing a system for mechanized links between transit-related
organizations; reducing Government involvement and delegating executive affairs,
such as issuance of certificates, to the syndicates; and coordination with
customs administration and police with a view to minimizing vehicles control and
limit these controls to the borders. One other major step taken so far is the
renovation of the transit vehicles including the use of 4200 trucks with EUROII
standard, which has yielded remarkable difference in this sector.
The
authorities in the transport sector intend to construct 10136 km of freeways,
highways and main roads; reconstruct 700 dangerous points in the current road
networks; and develop 165 more services-supplying complexes by 2009 (the final
year of Transport Plan). It is also expected that 8000 new trucks and other
cargo vehicles join the existing ones annually. In addition, the new customs
law, which is consistent with the international and regional transit rules and
regulations, is to be adopted. Against this background, an annual growth of 6.5
percent is foreseen for transit of goods by 2009.
Thank You
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