CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring

The Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) mechanism is an empirical tool designed by the CAREC Program to assess and track the time and cost of moving goods across borders and along the six CAREC corridors, spanning the 11 participating countries—Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The CPMM evaluates a set of trade facilitation indicators (TFIs) to illustrate the overall annual performance and efficiency of the CAREC corridors. Measured over time and across corridors, the indicators provide a comparative picture that allows the assessment and validation of impacts of transport and trade initiatives in the region. The TFIs include (i) time taken to clear a border-crossing point (BCP), (ii) cost incurred at a BCP, (iii) cost incurred to travel a corridor sector, and (iv) speed to travel along CAREC corridors.

While the 2019 CPMM report is gettering ready for publication in Q2 2020, the 2018 CPMM data analysis demonstrated steady average improvement in speed without delay (which increased by 3% for road transport and 9% for rail), largely attributed to the success of physical and connectivity infrastructure investment along the CAREC corridors. Delays at the border declined for road transport by an average of 22%, and rail by an average of 20%, resulting in improved speed with delay by up to 5.5% for road and 7.8% for rail. However, these delays remain a major impediment to efficient trade. Furthermore, the average cost to clear a border crossing and the cost incurred to travel a corridor section remain low.

The CPMM report identifies country-level developments and challenges to assist national policy makers in determining the necessary focus of national strategies to address both national and regional transport, trade, and trade facilitation issues. Read more here.