




































AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 14(2) (2023), 1-9 

 

1 

 

MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH  

AIJMSR VOL 14 NO 2 (2023) P-ISSN 2638-1249   E-ISSN 2638-1273 
 

Available online at https://www.cribfb.com 
Journal homepage: https://www.cribfb.com/journal/index.php/ aijmsr 

Published by CRIBFB, USA 

SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE 

ONE BELT ONE ROAD INITIATIVES                                         

           
 Rajarshi Roy Chowdhury  (a)1  Debashish Roy (b)   Md Mamunur Rashid  (c)  Md Sumon Reza (d)   

 
(a) Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Metropolitan University, Bateshwar, Sylhet, Bangladesh; E-mail: rajarshiry@gmail.com 
(b) School of Information Technology Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada; E-mail: debashish.roy@torontomu.ca 
(c) Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam; E-mail: 

mamunur1979@gmail.com 
(d) Department of Civil Engineering, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; E-mail: sumonce@gmail.com 

 

 
A R T I C L E I N F O 

      
 

Article History: 
 

Received: 4th May 2023 

Revised: 20th June 2023 

Accepted: 27th June 2023 

       Published: 14th July 2023 

 
Keywords: 

One Belt One Road (OBOR), 

Globalization, Belt and Road 

Initiative (BRI), Global Trading, 

China. 

 
       JEL Classification Codes:  

 

       D86, F18, F35, F63, K3 

       

 
A B S T R A C T 

 
The One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) by China presents a grand vision to the world that aims to 

foster cooperation among different countries in various fields such as global trade, international 

relations, infrastructure development, education, and technology. Also known as the Belt and Road 

Initiative (BRI), it comprises a network of roads, railways, and sea routes, all geared toward the 

development of humanity. The purpose of this research is to analyze some of the significant impacts of 

this massive project in terms of social, economic, and environmental aspects. Through the exchange of 

culture, sports, education, and international relations on six economic corridors, the BRI has the potential 

to create substantial economic benefits. The project also prioritizes environmental sustainability through 

a green BRI approach. All the quantitative and qualitative data are extracted from different research 

papers/reports, published books, and some online based data portals. It has been shown that the 

OBOR/BRI seeks to connect the world and foster peace, whilst its implementation may face significant 

challenges. Nonetheless, it presents new opportunities for people and may usher in a new era of 

globalization. 

 
 

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee CRIBFB, USA. This article is an open-access article  distributed 
under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license  

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).  

 

INTRODUCTION 

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also referred to as One Belt One Road (OBOR), is a massive infrastructure development 

project that aims to transform and enhance existing structures of roads, ports, transportation systems, airports, economies, 

skyscrapers, technologies, and more in various regions of the world. Its scale is so significant that it is considered the world's 

largest man-made infrastructure development project (Tan et al., 2019). The initiative is a historic effort by the People's 

Republic of China to connect people globally, with the ultimate goal of changing the world map. Huping Shang has 

described the BRI as a combination of two extensive projects: the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk 

Road of the 21st Century. In September 2013, it had been proposed by the People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping 

in Kazakhstan and later in Indonesia, respectively (Wang et al., 2020). On that day, the president intends to build an overland 

silk road by promoting various policy management, connectivity of roads, free trading, currency convertibility, and 

reinforcement to tie among people (or people-to-people) (Shang, 2019; Sarker, et al., 2018). There has been a significant 

amount of research carried out on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) since its proposal in 2013. Researchers have analyzed 

various aspects of the project, including its environmental impacts, economic development potential, and theoretical 

dimensions. The researchers like Haoguang Liang, Yaojun Zhang, and Huping Shang analyze theoretical aspects of the BRI 

project in different dimensions. The BRI has sparked discussions on the future of global connectivity and infrastructure 

development, as well as the role of China in shaping these processes. Some researchers have also explored the potential for 

                                                      
1Corresponding author: ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9235-3687 
© 2023 by the authors. Hosting by CRIBFB. Peer review under responsibility of CRIBFB, USA.  

https://doi.org/10.46281/aijmsr.v14i2.2050 

 
To cite this article: Chowdhury, R. R., Roy, D., Rashid, M. M., & Reza, M. S. (2023). SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF 

THE ONE BELT ONE ROAD INITIATIVES. American International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 14(2), 1-9. 

https://doi.org/10.46281/aijmsr.v14i2.2050 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
https://doi.org/10.46281/aijmsr.v14i2.2050
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9235-3687
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1174-3868
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3211-9785
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7451-8385


Chowdhury et al., American International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research 14(2) (2023), 1-9

  

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the BRI to advance sustainable development in the context of the evolution of humankind, including through the creation 

of green and digital silk roads (Liang & Zhang, 2019). 

It is interesting to see how different researchers have analyzed the Belt and Road Initiative from diverse 

perspectives. While some have focused on its economic impacts, others have looked at its cultural and social dimensions. 

Md. Nazrul Islam's perspective on the culturalization of the BRI project sheds light on how this initiative can bring people 

from different nations and societies together by promoting people-to-people interaction and communication (Afzaal, 2019). 

Similarly, other scholars have looked at various issues within the framework of the BRI, such as the philosophy and culture 

of a society, economic development, environmental sustainability, social responsibility and ethics, and judiciary and law 

enforcement services (Shan et al., 2018). This indicates the complexity of the BRI project and the diverse aspects that need 

to be considered to ensure its success. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

Figure 1. At a glance economic corridors and member countries of the BRI project (Wong & Jia, 2017; Consultants, 

2016) 

 

The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is an important component of the BRI, which aims to connect countries and 

regions through a network of infrastructure projects and trade agreements. The Maritime Silk Road specifically focuses on 

developing port infrastructure and logistics networks to facilitate maritime trade and transport between China and other 

countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. It involves the construction and upgrading of ports, shipping lanes, and other 

maritime infrastructure, as well as the promotion of trade and investment in related sectors such as shipping, logistics, and 

energy. Additionally, their work also reveals that international relation among different nations has been influenced by 

China’s role. The Belt and Road Initiative has a global reach, with over 65 countries (geographical units are represented in 

Figure 1) officially participating in the project as of 2021. Table 1 exhibits some significant aspects of the BRI initiatives 

(Chua, 2017). 

 

Table 1. An abstract view of the Belt and Road Initiative (Chua, 2017) 
 

Scope Description 

3 Round 
China's 3rd round opening up following the progression of economic or business zones and effective accession with the world 
trade organization (WTO) 

5 Vital Scopes 
There are five significant scopes as follows: trading, financial integration, coordination of policies, connectivity, and 

interconnection between people all over the world 

6 Economic 

Corridors of Trading 

Establish six international trading corridors for economic development, such as China to Indochina Peninsula (including six 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations member nations - Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos 

(Jinbo, W., 2019), China to Myanmar-Bangladesh-India, China to Pakistan, China to Central and Western Asia, New Eurasian 

Land Bridge (or New Eurasian Continental Bridge), and China to Mongolia-Russia 

30% of GDP Accounted for 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) with respect to 63% (approximately) of the world population 

40 > Countries Cooperation agreements have been signed by more than 40 countries and different international organizations with China 

65 Countries Sixty-five countries, as presented in Figure 3, connect with the BRI project (approximate 4.4 Billion of the world population) 

USD 953 Billion 
China's trade value reached approximately USD 953 Billion with the BRI member countries in 2016, while China's total trade 

was approximately 25.7%   

8,158 Contracts In 2016, around 8,158 contracts signed by the Chinese enterprise with 61 countries around the world   

 
According to geographical locations, the BRI member countries are categorized into five regions: (i) East and 

Central Asia, and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), (ii) Southeast Asia, (iii) South Asia, (iv) West Asia, and 

North Africa, and (v) Central and Eastern Europe, as listed in Table 2 (Wang et al., 2020). 

 



Chowdhury et al., American International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research 14(2) (2023), 1-9

  

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Table 2. Five geographical regions according to the member of BRI nations 
 

Geographical Regions Name of the Nations 

East and Central Asia, and CIS Nations 
Belarus, China, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Georgia, 
Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Uzbekistan 

Nations of Southeast Asia 
Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, East Timor, 

Laos   

Nations of South Asia Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives 

West Asia and North Africa Nations 
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Oman, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, 

Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria 

Central and Eastern Europe Nations 
Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Herzegovina, Lithuania, Montenegro, 
Slovenia, Estonia, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia, Macedonia   

  
The BRI (or One Belt One Road) project initiates connecting (or networking) the world based on land or sea routes, 

as shown in Figure 2. Its significance cannot be excluded due to various active roles in the development of financial growth, 

networking, and mutual peace among different countries. This project connects major Asian nations, such as Singapore, 

Bangladesh, Myanmar, Brunei, Sri-Lanka, Cambodia, through some economic corridors, interconnected pipelines of oil and 

gas, and ports (Ouyang, 2017). The key enthusiasm of this potential research work is to scrutinize or analyze different 

perspectives of the OBOR initiative in terms of economic development, environmental issues, and multi-cultural societies, 

which imposes new challenges and opportunities for future globalization. Additionally, this work focuses on how the 

development of the BRI project would be beneficial for humankind. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2. Roadmap of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiatives (Loya, 2019) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3. China’s policy: Go-Global to BRI (Zhou et al., 2018) 

 

The sections of this research work are arranged as follows: Section one provides a basic introduction of the Belt 

and Road Initiative (BRI) project, including geographical regions and the roadmap of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) 

initiatives. In Section two, Discussions: the background of this study is briefly described, including 5 routes of BRI initiative, 

and economic corridors, along with prime data sources, crucial impacts of the BRI project on social, economic, and 

environmental issues, addresses significant opportunities and challenges of the world's most ambitious project in terms of 

globalization. Finally, last Section concludes the paper with the future direction of the work. 



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DISCUSSIONS 

Background of Study 

Two mega-projects, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, make up the Belt and Road 

Initiative (BRI) project, also known as One Belt One Road. The aim of this project is to achieve future globalization by 

connecting people all over the world, developing infrastructure, promoting global trade, and more. This marks the future 

roadmap of China's foreign policy, which was initiated in the early 2000s when China shifted its policy from "Go-Global" 

to "Belt and Road Initiative" (Shang, 2019), as shown in Figure 3. A comprehensive Chinese vision of the BRI project is 

presented in reference (BRI, 2017), which includes a description of five routes (including the Silk Road Economic Belt and 

the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road) and six economic corridors. These are presented in Table 3 (Shang, 2019) and Table 

4 (Wong, & Jia, 2017), respectively. The geographical location of the Belt and Road Initiative project economic corridors 

is illustrated in Figure 1. 

 

Table 3. Five routes (including 3 land and 2 sea routes) of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, 2017) 
 

Rout Description 

Silk Road 

Economic Belt 

China (Northeast China) to Europe passing through the Baltic Sea (a branch of the Atlantic Ocean) via Russia and Central Asia 

China (Northwest China) to Central Asia, West Asia to the Mediterranean Sea (connecting the Atlantic Ocean), and the Persian 

Gulf 

China (Southwest China) to the Indian Ocean via the Indochinese Peninsula (or Mainland Southeast Asia) 

Maritime Silk 
Road 

From coastal ports of China passing through the Strait of Malacca (connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean) by crossing 

the South China Sea to reach the Indian Ocean and extends to the European region 

Crossing the South China Sea over the coastal ports of China and extends routes to the Southern Pacific Ocean 

 

Table 4. Six economic corridors of the BRI project (Wong & Jia, 2017) 
 

Economic Corridor Status Operations/Activities 

China to Indochina Operational 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been made their agenda 

to invest in infrastructure development of member nations railway and highway 

networks. The BRI also supports raising capital for the fund. 

China to Myanmar-Bangladesh-India Semi-Operational 
Oil and gas distribution pipelines are operational in between China and Myanmar. 
But it is challenging and requires a long-term mission for an extension to India. 

China to Pakistan Operational A significant amount of investment has been used for infrastructure development. 

China to Central Asia-Western Asia Non-Operational 
A large amount of investment and long-term ambition is required for infrastructure 

enlargement or broadening to operate this economic corridor. 

New Eurasian Continental Bridge Operational 
Many infrastructures are already being developed (pre-BRI) and used by many 

logistic organizations for different purposes, such as trading, communication. 

China to Mongolia-Russia Semi-Operational 
Infrastructure development investment has been increased, and primarily it is a 

commodities route. 

 

Furthermore, six communication pathways explain in brief, including highway roads, railways, sea transportation, 

oil, and gas distribution pipelines, aviation (or Aircraft), and aerospace networking among the BRI member nations or 

countries. The BRI scheme mainly focuses on five key areas as follows (Brown, 2019): (i) financial integration, (ii) global 

trade and investment, (iii) policy coordination among the BRI member countries, (iv) multi-cultural society, and (v) 

connectivity, to accomplish this project goal. According to (Sarker et al., 2018), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimated 

that the BRI member countries require at least USD 5 Trillion for infrastructure development from 2016 to 2020. The Asian 

Development Bank (ADB) also estimated that only Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Cambodia require 

eight trillion U.S. Dollar (USD) for their infrastructure development and expansion (He, 2017). Additionally, the ADB 

estimated that the BRI project would cost about USD 22.6 Trillion by 2030 (Brown, 2019). 

In 2018, the establishment of the One Belt One Road Brunei-China association was announced in Brunei 

Darussalam, highlighting the importance of the OBOR project regarding socio-economic development in the region (Admin, 

2022). However, this research work explores both positive and negative impacts of the BRI development project in various 

dimensions, such as financial investment policy, infrastructure development challenges and opportunities, and globalization, 

among others. For this analysis, all data were collected from various publicly available secondary sources, such as Google 

Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Springer databases, using relevant keywords such as OBOR, China, BRI, Belt and Road 

Initiative, Maritime Silk Road, 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Economic Corridor, Global Economy, Challenge, and 

Opportunity of BRI, among others, to gather authentic information. Additionally, some of the latest information has been 

obtained from different reports (government reports, newsletters) for better understanding. 

 

Impacts of the BRI Project 

In this section, three significant impacts of the BRI project have been explored, which are based on the vision of connecting 

people (or people-to-people) all over the world, and on distinct perspectives such as economic development through local 

and global trade, natural resource distribution and environmental sustainability (including resource sharing, proper 

distribution, safety, and pollution reduction), and the promotion of a multicultural society through culture, education, 

medicine, and sports. Society can be significantly impacted by each of these dimensions, either positively or negatively. 

 

Social Impacts 

A holistic view to achieve sustainable development in 2030 for the implementation of the BRI has been proposed by the 



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People's Republic of China. The BRI project has significant social impacts on the member countries. In terms of peace, one 

another national sovereignty, political independence (territorial integrity of nation or state), propriety, and social role and 

status should be esteemed by all member nations. For the establishment of a civil society, multicultural platforms, such as 

exchange education, sports, culture, health, and historical heritage, are required to be utilized for people to exchange and 

cooperate. Moreover, international cooperation or relation with a higher ethical standard is strengthened by the BRI project 

(OECD, 2018). 

The construction of roads, railways, ports, and other facilities create jobs for local people, which leads to economic 

growth and poverty reduction. However, there are also negative social impacts of the BRI project. One concern is that the 

infrastructure development may displace local communities and disrupt traditional ways of life. Additionally, some argue 

that the influx of foreign workers to construct these facilities may lead to the exploitation of local workers and weaken labor 

rights. Some analysts worry that member countries may face difficulties in repaying the loans obtained from Chinese banks, 

leading to economic instability and social unrest (Jones & Hameiri, 2020). It is crucial to ensure that the projects are 

sustainable and beneficial for all parties involved to avoid such issues. 

 

Environmental Impacts 

In the context of the serious environmental challenges faced in the 20th Century, environmental scholars have been paying 

close attention to the potential technological impacts on the environment. Unfortunately, the 21st Century has already seen 

the continuation of negative environmental consequences such as rising carbon emissions, global warming, and an 

accelerated greenhouse effect. Against this backdrop, China has embarked on a historic project known as the BRI, which 

seeks to change the existing infrastructure of the world's road and transportation systems. However, the BRI initiative also 

promotes the concept of a "green BRI," which emphasizes the influential factors of climate change resulting from the 

infrastructure development for transportation and energy systems. The main objective of the Green Belt and Road Initiative 

is to be followed by an eco-friendly environment to prevent air, water, and land pollution and ensure resource-efficient 

development. Key areas of transportation infrastructure development focus on land, water, and air traffic to improve 

transportation bottlenecks and reduce carbon emissions. Both renewable smart energy and traditional sources of energy, 

including coal, oil, gas, wind-power, hydro-power, and solar-power, are considered in the development of the BRI project 

(Zhou et al., 2018). However, it is challenging to identify suitable infrastructure and resources for a particular region of a 

country. The development of infrastructure in certain areas may have negative impacts on the environment in the short or 

long term, such as: 

 Transportation – Railways, highways, and ports (cross-border networking) infrastructure along with some of the 

BRI member nations may be increased carbon emissions and air pollution due to the construction of new 

transportation infrastructure. 

 Energy - Power or electricity transmission, distribution, production systems, oil and gas pipelines connectivity may 

lead to environmental degradation through pollution and habitat destruction. The BRI project involves the 

construction of many new coal-fired power plants, which can contribute to air pollution and greenhouse gas 

emissions. 

 Water management - Bridge, dam, and port development are the potential issues for water pollution as well as 

water distribution and allocation. These projects can disrupt natural water flows and negatively impact aquatic 

ecosystems. 

 Waste management - Industrial waste, construction waste, and city waste. 

 Technology - radiation, technological hub, smart-gadget, communication channel and digital waste (electronic 

waste or e-waste). 

 

Economic Impacts 

A new dimension in China's financial development and engagement with international trading within many countries is 

imposed by the BRI project. It confines economic growth based on the six economic corridors, as presented in Table 4 and 

Figure 1, as follows (Ramasamy et al., 2017): 

 The China to Mongolia-Russia is a semi-operational economic corridor, which extends and makes efficient 

connectivity based on Mongolia’s Steppe Road development and Russia’s Eurasia Land Bridge renovation 

projects.   

 The New Eurasian Continental Bridge economic corridor connects Europe and China via an international railway 

network, which starts from China's Jiangsu province to South Holland province (Rotterdam) in the Netherlands. 

The Xinjiang rail lines crossed over many nations, such as Belarus, Russia, and Poland, joining a European network 

of the railway. 

 The China to Central Asia-Western Asia economic corridor connects with the Xinjiang railway network, which 

extends connectivity with many nations, such as Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, etc., throughout 

Central Asia and West Asia over the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Peninsula.   

 The China to Pakistan economic corridor associates the northwest territory of China (Xinjiang) with the Gwadar 

port of Pakistan.   

 The China to Myanmar-Bangladesh-India economic corridor requires significant cooperation with each other to 

share common borders. 

 The China to Indochina peninsula economic corridor connects China to five different nations of the Indochina 

peninsula. Hence, this corridor enlarges its connection to Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. 

 



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An abstract view of trading rules among the BRI member countries in the Global Trade Enabling Report 2016 is 

provided by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The enabling trade index (ETI) is formed with seven pillars: (i) national 

(domestic) market access policy, (ii) international (foreign) market access policy, (iii) transparent and efficient border 

management administration, (iv) availability of infrastructure for the transportation system, (v) efficient and convenient 

transport services, (vi) accessibility and usability of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and (vii) 

systematic operating environment, according to (Ramasamy et al., 2017). The trade facilities among the BRI member 

countries are being improved through the establishment of several economic corridors across the world. For instance, China 

to Indochina economic corridor has a total trading value of USD 6,070 Billion, with intra-corridor trading accounting for 

about USD 1,238 Billion. Analysis results indicate that China is the primary destination for export goods and products from 

some member nations, such as Cambodia exporting 5% of its export products to China, whilst Laos exports over 25.7% to 

the same destination, as reported in 2015 (Ramasamy et al., 2017). Similarly, China also exports products to these countries. 

The China to Myanmar-Bangladesh-India economic corridor has made China a significant source for imports of products 

and goods trading. 

A large amount of financial investment is needed to build a network of roads, ports, railways, and other hard and 

soft infrastructure over sixty nations or countries for the BRI project. This is the key objective of China's foreign and 

economic policy (Djankov et al., 2016). Funds for this project have been allocated to funding bodies such as the State 

Administration of Foreign Exchange, the Export-Import Bank of China, etc. in 2015, as listed in Table 5 (Sarker et al., 

2018). Table 6 (OECD, 2018) provides a comparative summary of the required estimation of global infrastructure 

development projects based on some significant research reports. 

 

Table 5. The BRI project funding or investing mechanism (Sarker et al., 2018) 
 

Banks Institutions 

Funding Mechanism 

(USD Billion) 

Authorized 

Capital Size 

Yearly Lending 

(Recent) 

Approximate Amount of 

Lending Yearly (prior 2020s) 

 
Multifarious Banks 

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank 100 Billion 1.7 10 to 15 

New Development Bank (NDB) 100 Billion 1 to 1.5 5 to 7 

Silk Road Fund 
(Chinese government investment fund) 

40 Billion 2 to 3 2 to 3 

 Commercial Banks 
The approximate amount of annual lending is USD 90 Billion by the four banks 

in 2016 

Policy 

Banks 

China Development Bank (CDB) --- 15 (2015) --- 

Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China --- 24 (2015) --- 

 
Table 6. Comparison of estimated needs of global infrastructure investment (OECD, 2018) 
 

Source Scope 

Actual/Expected Yearly 

investment 

(USD Trillion) 

Investment Require 

(USD Trillion) 

Duration Total Per-Year 

(Amar et al.,  2016) Transmission, generation and distribution of 

power, primary source of energy supply, demand 
of energy and efficient distribution, water and 

sanitation, and telecommunication 

3.4 

(2015) 
2015 to 2030 75 to 86 5 to 6 

(NCE, 2014) --- 2015 to 2030 96 6.4 

(OECD, 2017) 
3.4 to 4.4 

(2017) 
2016 to 2030 95 6.3 

(Hub, 2023) 

Connectivity - road, airport, railway, generation of 
electricity and efficient transmission and 

distribution, management of water, and 

telecommunication 

2.3 (2015) 

to 
3.8 (2040) 

 

2015 to 2040 

 

94 

2.9 (2015) 

to 
4.6 (2040) 

(Woetzel et al., 2016) 
Transportation (railway, airport, and road, port), 
telecommunication, water, and energy 

2.5 2016 to 2030 49 3.3 

 
Opportunities and Challenges of the BRI Project 

Many opportunities are offered by the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) in different domains, such as investment and trade 

among different countries and companies (either private or public organizations), peace among nations, cooperation, and 

collaboration with BRI member countries. In this section, some of the key opportunities are addressed as follows: 
 Allowing access to natural resources, such as gas, oil, energy, through local and international cooperation among 

member countries of the BRI based on their resources demand, production, and distribution (OECD, 2018). 

 Extensive international cooperation increases cultural exchanges between member countries in terms of science, 

technology, sports, education, medical science, traditional culture and history, Chinese medicine, tourism, food, 

etc. (OECD, 2018). 

 Contractors or developers from different nations allows performing joint ventures project to increase partnership 

and collaboration activities, such as engineering’s of the China state construction has been started a joint project in 



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the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with Korea’s Ssangyong Engineering and Construction corporation (Woetzel et 

al., 2016). 

 The infrastructure of the transportation systems gradually improves in the BRI countries and corridors based on 

the multi-modal transportation mechanism, which incorporates waterway, railway, airway, and expressway for 

efficient services. Consequently, it will connect all the major routes and ports of entry to increase connectivity 

(OECD, 2018). 

 The BRI project will create more job opportunities in a local and international market, which also imposes legal 

law enforcement for workers. 

 
New opportunities in various domains of everyday life will be brought by the Belt and Road Initiative after the 

successful completion of the target and running projects. However, key challenges are associated with the development of 

the world's biggest project, such as: 

 In terms of infrastructure development in different member nations or countries of the BRI project, it is challenging 

to measure the absolute size and scale of structure and design, while funding plays a key role (Aris, 2016). 

 Infrastructure development requires adequate time to accomplish, and without completion of the project, no 

economic return will get from it (The Economist 2015). Hence, future funding for development will face difficulties 

in running projects smoothly. Therefore, it is necessary to find potential investors (He, 2016). 

 In the BRI member countries, geography and topography are not the same, which makes it difficult for a smooth 

transportation system. Developers are required to consider some factors during planning, designing, and developing 

routes, such as a high mountain, densely forest, distance, high and low topography, etc. (Sarker et al., 2018). 

 International border security is a major challenge in neighbouring countries. It will bring new issues to manage 

internal and external national and international security (Pop, 2016).  

 In the context of legal regimes practiced over the BRI member regions, there are some significant difficulties arise, 

which include the common law of Singapore and Malaysia, Islamic law in the Middle East, and Central Asia 

continental law (Wong, & Jia, 2017). 

 

CONCLUSIONS 

A new path is brought to the world by the historical project of China, which offers opportunities for sharing development 

and prosperity. Chinese companies can benefit from this mega project through six economic corridors, while companies 

from around the world, whether public or private, can gain opportunities for local and international trading of goods and 

products. This project has the potential to connect people and nations, paving the way for future globalization. However, 

there may be challenges during the development phase due to financial difficulties and social and environmental issues. 

Despite this, the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to create a peaceful civil society worldwide, with multicultural 

nations, a standard and secure lifestyle, open national and international job markets, water conservation, efficient resource 

utilization, multinational business models, and more. However, the limited availability of data regarding social and 

environmental perspectives is a challenge due to restrictions imposed by project developers or companies, partial completion 

of projects, and national rules. Future work is needed to explore more in terms of data availability in different domains. 

 

 
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, R.R.C., M.S.R. and M.M.R.; Methodology, R.R.C. and M.S.R.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, R.R.C. 

and D.R.; Writing – Review & Editing, R.R.C. and M.M.R.; Visualization, R.R.C. and M.S.R.; Supervision, D. R.; Authors have read and agreed to the 

published version of the manuscript. 

Institutional Review Board Statement: Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due to that the research does not deal with vulnerable 

groups or sensitive issues. 

Funding: The authors received no direct funding for this research. 

Acknowledgments: The authors are profoundly grateful to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Metropolitan University (MU), 
Sylhet, Bangladesh, and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei Darussalam, for supporting this research work. 

Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. 

Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available 

due to restrictions. 

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

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