Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aug. 6
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Uzbekistan Railways (Ozbekiston Temir Yollari) State Joint Stock Railway Company (SSRC) has signed an agreement with the Chinese Corporation for Trade and Economic Cooperation (CNTIC) on the supply of equipment for the electrification of Karshi-Termez railroad in southern Uzbekistan, the Uzbek company told Trend.
CNTIC won the tender announced at the end of 2013, the source said.
The contract worth $50 million envisages "turnkey" delivery of external power supply equipment, motor vehicles for maintenance of contact network, and railroad switches.
Earlier, "Uzbekistan Railways" has signed two more contracts with the CNTIC for the supply of equipment worth $45.6 million for the electrification of another section of the Marokand - Karshi railway in the south of the country.
As reported earlier, "Uzbekistan Railways" has started electrification of the two sections of the railway south from Marokand to Termez in August 2012 with the total cost of $623 million.
The work on the electrification of the Marokand Karshi (140.8 kilometers) and Karshi-Termez (325 kilometers) sections are carried out in parallel. The cost of electrification of the Marokand-Karshi section is $234.7 million. The project is financed at the expense of loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB ) in the amount of $ 100 million and the own funds of "Uzbekistan Railways".
The cost of electrification of the Karshi-Termez section is $388.3 million. It is financed at the expense of the loan of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the amount of $ 220.6 million and the own funds of the railway company.
The electrification of the sections is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.
The specialists believe that the implementation of these two projects will increase of passenger and freight traffic by 20 percent to the south of the country, where there are currently a number of large investment projects are being implemented.
The electrification of these sections will also increase cargo transit across the territory of Uzbekistan to neighboring Afghanistan.
About 1000 kilometers of Uzbekistan's railways with total length of 4,200 kilometers has been electrified. In total, it is planned to electrify nearly 2,000 kilometers of railways in the republic. About 60 percent of cargo turnover in the country and almost 80 percent of total export and import cargo transportation fell to Uzbekistan's railways.
Edited by CN
