Understanding Stakeholder Perspective on Multi-Modal Route Optimization Through New Border Crossing Point of Kharlachi on The Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (Carec) Corridor

Pakistan’s major border land ports of Torkham and Chaman are located on the CAREC (Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation) corridor and currently handle the transit trade under the 11-member CAREC Cross-Border Trade Facilitation Agreement and the bilateral Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement to which Pakistan is a signatory. Both Torkham and Chaman face periodic supply chain disruptions and cargo traffic congestions on the CAREC Corridor. The present research therefore intends to understand stakeholders’ perspective to choose an alternate trade route at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Qualitative method was used through survey questionnaire to identify the critical factors of port competitiveness related to port infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, port costs, and port location for such interventions at Kharlachi BCP. A sample of 15 well-experienced respondents from the domains of supply chain management, logistics, trade and public sector were selected. The study affirmed that Kharlachi Border Crossing Point (BCP) located at the Pak-Afghan border having prospective multi-modal facilities is best suited to help distribute the prospective CAREC transit cargo load by rail and road transportation to overcome such disruptions. The multi-modal facility is also expected to reduce transportation costs and time. However, being in a primitive state, Kharlachi BCP requires critical development intervention to make itself regionally competitive among other BCPs to attract and manage the regional trade flow.