The edge of Kaladan

Using the case of India’s mega-infrastructure build-up, the Kaladan Multimodal Transport Project (KMMTP) in the ‘remote’ and ethnically contentious borderlands between India and Myanmar, this chapter takes an ethnographic approach to understand the meaning of spectacular connectivity and infrastructure on remote borderlands. Based on six months of fieldwork, the chapter explores the voices, visions, spatial and ethnic worlds of border residents who subsequently have to position themselves and their remoteness to absorb the Indian state’s spectacular new connective infrastructure. The chapter narratively traverses along this newly constructed road, to the very edge of a hitherto informal and flexible border with Myanmar. In doing so, it highlights the need to investigate the banal, unspectacular and interethnic lived realities of the borderland. The chapter argues that spectacular infrastructures such as the KMMTP are harnessed in the pursuit of territorial control, making the remote legible and for extracting profits. The chapter introduces the analytic of the ‘spectacle’ to demonstrate how powerful states and ethnic communities rely on grand infrastructural spectacles and cross-border projects often at the expense, erasure and displacement of those at the edge of borderlands, who have the least stake in shaping such spectacular infrastructures.

The struggle for Eurasia in the focus of transport geostrategies

The monograph examines the problems that play an important role in the processes of constructing transport geostrategies on the Eurasian continent. In the processes of redrawing the world's spaces, the transport sphere (along with financial and information) often acts as a catalyst for modern transformations. It is emphasized that thanks to transport networks, the economy on a global scale is structured in a completely specific way. To increase the potential of any state and society (the peoples living in it), the creation of conditions for communication community (in the broadest sense) is an integral component of its sustainability. The thesis is proved that the direction of the flow of many global integration or disintegration processes corresponding to the new world conditions depends on the reliable and fast operation of transport communications. Special attention is paid to the concept of the modern Chinese state "One Belt , One Road", which the Chinese elite actively promotes in the external space. Some aspects of the economic and transport development of the Arctic region in the context of the functioning of the Northern Sea Route are considered. Due attention is paid to the special role of Central Asia in the context of these problems, as well as the implementation of the international transport project "North - South". For students and teachers, as well as for anyone interested in economics and politics.

Appraising the Likely Gentrification Impacts of a Mega Transport Project—The Case of Crossrail

Megaprojects are defined as projects that cost a billion US dollars or more at 1990 prices. Mega transport infrastructure projects have the potential to affect important socioeconomic and territorial changes. They are often perceived as critical to the “success” of major metropolitan, regional and national development. The redevelopment of neighbourhoods offers many opportunities for regional regeneration, yet there remain concerns regarding the potential gentrification of areas leading to the displacement of existing populations and local businesses. This research applies multi-criteria analysis, a tool that is widely used in mega infrastructure project appraisal using the UK’s Crossrail as a case to explore the likelihood of gentrification and the displacement impacts of the project. This paper finds both positive and negative impacts. Different stakeholders express noticeably differing opinions regarding the project.

Monte Carlo Simulations as a Tool to Support Quantitative Value for Money Assessment of Public Private Partnership Project

Value for money assessment is a crucial approach to compare the value of a project done by Public Private Partnership (PPP) with traditional government procurement. However, one of the most challenges in Value for money (VFM) assessment is uncertainty in inputs, which lead to imprecise output computation. To solve this issue, some practical studies suggest Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) as a tool to support quantitative Value for money assessment to achieve reliable outcome estimation. Although many international researches focus on quantitative VFM analysis with the use of MCS, few Vietnamese studies conduct this issue. This research illustrates the application of MCS to support quantitative VFM assessment of PPP projects in Vietnam. A case study of a transport project in Vietnam is employed to demonstrate the model.

IMPORTANCE OF THE SILK ROAD AND THE SILK ROAD ECONOMIC BELT PROJECT

The interaction of different political, economic, historical and cultural dynamics of societies play an important role in the emergence of civilizations. The interaction of these dynamics with each other was realized by means of transportation due to reasons such as trade, migration, war, diplomacy. Transportation routes have been the most important element that provides the relationship of space between people and societies through the means that have developed in the historical process. The factor that makes the transportation route valuable and lasting depends on its geopolitical and geostrategic position, on ensuring that the societies carry out their social and economic relations safely. In this context, the oldest and most valuable transportation route in human history is the Silk Road, which covers a large geography from Europe to Asia to Asia to Africa, where many ancient civilizations were born. Along with the increase in the importance of energy resources in recent years, the importance of the Silk Road has increased as a result of the growing role of the countries concentrated in the region along the Silk Road in the world economy. On September 7, 2013, Chinese President XI Jinping delivered an important speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, calling on China and Central Asia to join the creation of a new "silk road Economic belt". According to some researchers, this project covers the European economic zone from China and the Eurasia and Asia-Pacific economy corridor. China's project to revive the Silk Road has emerged as a result of China's economic and political-based regional and global expectations and concerns, rather than being a utopian initiative. In this study, new projects in the revitalization of the Silk Road were evaluated and the Silk Road Economic Belt project was studied. The environmental threats posed to the region by the world's largest transport project, which is being implemented with the participation of 65 countries, were discussed.