Economic corridors in Asia : paradigm of integration? A reflection for Latin America. Varios autores

India already has provisions for state residency-based reservation in government jobs and therefore this might trickle down to the private sector also because of political preferences. The major challenge for a high-density population area is the land acquisition and also proper rehabilitation of the people. However, the government has taken utmost care not to disturb the populated areas and has given compensation which was much higher than the prevailing market rate. Likewise, with regard to inland waterway projects, there have been apprehensions that too much cargo movement would disturb the fish habitats and also due to shallowness in the river at certain places it would lead to problems in navigation and also affect the cargo carrying capacity of the boats or barges. Furthermore, the issue of finance has been addressed through public-private funding and also through institutions such as the World Bank. A few countries such as Japan have taken keen interest in developing the freight and transport corridors in India and also at easy interest rates, known as soft loans.

      At the sub regional level, the issue emerges about economic dividends of the corridors and whether these would help capital and labor migration through seamless connectivity. This, because within Asia and particularly in Southern Asia the problem has been the issue of Mode-II and Mode IV migration, dealing with unskilled and skilled labor. Additionally, the one challenge which might become an issue in the sub regional construct is how the other economies would view the competition to their own industry. Also, whether the regional value chain would add or subtract the value of the respective products. At the sub-regional level, the infrastructure development can only pay dividends when there are free trade agreements, easy border custom procedures and simple documentation. India has made blueprints for the economic corridors, but the issue is fund generation and completion within accepted timelines. However, this has been the major challenge for most of the developing world. With growing economies and better procedures, the deadlines for better economic futures might be met.

      While India has always faced problems with regard to project implementation and completion, there are challenges related to employment, corruption, labor laws and labor unrest which might lead to delays in projects. These are unforeseen circumstances which exist in any developing country. However, most of the Ministries in India work as per the blueprint and this has provided blueprints but then as those projects which have never started might face political axes as the opposition parties may wish to redraw the projects depending on their political stances.

CONCLUSION

      The theoretical arguments in the context of economic corridors have stated that urban centers have created economic spaces for development while on the other hand, there are arguments that production and economic centers have helped in developing nodes of economic activity in most of the developing economies. The case in point has been Indonesia, Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS) and other such projects which have been undertaken with the help of international institutions as well as entrepreneurship. The theoretical arguments in such a context support that an economic ecosystem is created when the viability and utility of these economic corridors have been assessed and carefully planned so that financial hurdles can be overcome through international funding and public-private partnership. In developing countries such as India, demand is created because of high populations and need for employment sustains the economic corridors. Furthermore, domestic consumption and production also support these economic corridors.

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