BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 4
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
The implementation of the project for the construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway will significantly reduce the delivery time of goods to Central Asia, the CIS, and Europe, Trend reports citing Kun.uz.
Director of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms of Uzbekistan (CEIR) Obid Khakimov made this statement at the meeting of the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Development Bank in Tashkent.
According to him, it is in the interests of the Central Asian countries to jointly create international transport corridors and transport infrastructure, which will help reduce transport costs when supplying export products to world markets.
“One of such projects may be the construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway, which will provide the Central Asian countries with access to the Pakistani seaports of Karachi, Qasem, and Gwadar. The implementation of this project will significantly reduce the delivery time of goods to Central Asia, the CIS, and Europe,” Obidov said.
With the full implementation of the project, the transportation of goods from Pakistan to Uzbekistan will take not 35, but 3-5 days, and the cost of transporting one 20-foot container can be reduced by almost three times. At the same time, according to forecasts, the volume of cargo transportation along this route may reach 10 million tons.
In addition to the transport sector, the CA countries are interested in participating in global chains of electricity and natural gas export.
“For example, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have launched the international project CASA-1000, which provides for the construction of a power transmission line to supply electricity through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.1 billion,” Obidov said.
In early February this year, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed in Tashkent a "road map" for the construction of the Mazari-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway. The construction time for a railway with an estimated length of 600 km (with a track gauge of 1520 mm) can be up to 5 years. The cost of railway construction project is estimated at $5 billion.
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