Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) constitute an important storehouse of natural resources, and have hence attracted several countries for establishing economic cooperation with them in the past. Recently, a new economic corridor is being proposed for connecting the land locked Central

Asia to the South Asian subcontinent by establishing a new corridor through Afghanistan-Iran-India.

The proposed corridor is expected to pass through roadway networks from Central Asia-Afghanistan and Iran and then to the Chabahar Port of Iran. The Chabahar Port is to be connected through maritime network to the western ports of India and from there to mainland India by roadways and railway networks. There are further talks of connecting this to the Eastern corridor of India that now also links Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Currently a vast highway is also under construction stretching from North East India to Myanmar and Thailand to reach the ASEAN economic zone of SE Asia via road through India, Bangladesh and Myanmar into Thailand. If Central Asia could be linked to this eastern corridor that could easily connect vast flow of trade and commerce from Central Asia across Afghanistan, Iran and the Indian subcontinent to the SE Asia. This proposed economic corridor has the potential to connect Central Asia to Middle East via Iran, SAARC economic zones resulting in the development of one of the biggest and most populous mega economic zones of the world. This will not only benefit the Central Asian countries but also cater to the adjoining countries in the Middle East.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada

Give priority

Apropos of the news stories “500 of 2,700 quake-hit houses dismantled in Kathmandu” (THT online, Oct. 30) and

“Reinstate NRA to expedite recovery efforts” (THT, Oct. 31, Page 2), six months on since the quake of April 25 devastated Nepal, the assistance promised by government and various donor agencies for the reconstruction of quake-hit buildings are yet to materialize in the hardest hit districts. On top of that, the hardships faced by the temblor-affected people and continuing agitations in the plains are beyond description. Besides, the high sounding plans and policies forwarded by I/NGOs have been no more than mere talk due to the blockade imposed by India. Furthermore, due to the lack of proper expediting mechanism both in the governmental and nongovernmental sectors, the scale of implementation and operation of such policies is still hopeless. With the onset of winter season, people are seen living in the precarious buildings that were marked uninhabitable. In spite of the fact that this is a risky affair, people have no option as the recovery efforts are lagging far behind.

Som Nath Ghimire, Kawasoti