COMMITTEE FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS RECOMMENDS ACTIONS TO DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Press Release
REC/15

COMMITTEE FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS RECOMMENDS ACTIONS TO DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Four-day Session Concludes, 4 December

BANGKOK, 4 December (United Nations Information Service) -- Transport and communications officials and experts from 28 Asian and Pacific countries today adopted a set of recommendations and actions aimed at further accelerating the much needed development of the region's infrastructure, as they concluded a four-day United Nations meeting to consider those issues.

Organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the third session of ESCAP's Committee for Transport and Communications was held from 1 to 4 December at the United Nations Conference Centre.

Issues considered by the Committee included follow-up to last year's Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure, Asia-Europe land transport linkages, the transport of dangerous goods, private sector participation, and the promotion of user-friendly public transport systems for people with disabilities.

Delegations attending the Committee stressed that efficient and reliable transport and communications systems are indispensable for national economic and social development and for the integration of countries into the regional and the global economy.

They recognized that for countries of the region to compete effectively in the global market place, they must raise the efficiency and quality of infrastructure facilities and services. Consequently, the Committee placed great importance on proposals for action at both the country and regional levels contained in the New Delhi Action Plan on Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific, adopted at the fifty-first session of the ESCAP Commission in 1995.

The Committee further recognized the important role of the Regional Action Programme for implementation of the Plan, which was adopted by the Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure held at New Delhi in October 1996. The programme contained 64 activities for implementation by ESCAP and other transport-related agencies at the regional level to support actions at the national level.

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One of the high priority activities in the Regional Action Programme is the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development -- or ALTID -- project, which encompasses the Trans-Asian Railway, the Asian Highway, and the facilitation of transport movements between ESCAP member countries.

A number of delegations updated the Committee on the development of Asia-Europe land bridges, including the Trans-Asian Railway route using the Trans-Siberian Railway, the "Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia" project and the New Silk Railway, as well as the Trans-Asia Railway southern corridor and its North-South corridors -- namely, northern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf and the corridor linking north-east Asia with south-east Asia, including proposed Master Plan for the Trans-Sumatra Railway.

A second activity accorded high priority in the Regional Action Programme was the transport of dangerous goods. The Committee noted that the demand for domestic and international transportation of dangerous goods was growing very rapidly in line with the increasing industrialization of regional economies, which was causing concern in relation to adequate safety, as frequent accidents were inflicting a heavy toll on the environment and human life. The Committee endorsed a number of proposals, including reviews of existing legislation, the establishment of national coordinating committees, and the harmonization of rules and regulations in line with Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) recommendations.

In the area of private sector participation, the Committee endorsed the proposal that an interim secretariat of the Asia Infrastructure Development Alliance, launched at the Ministerial Conference, be established within ESCAP.

The Committee recognized that user-friendly access for people with disabilities in public transport systems is at a nascent stage in most developing countries of the region. It endorsed a number of proposals for promoting greater access to public transport and welcomed the offer of the Government of the Philippines to host, in July 1998, a meeting on accessible public transport. It aims at developing a regional input for the Eighth International Conference on Mobility and Transport, to be held in Australia, in September 1998.

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