Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 22
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Iran plans to commission the Khaf (Iran) - Herat (Afghanistan) railway in six months, Iran's Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister, Iranian Railways CEO Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaie told Trend Oct. 22.
"Iran is building the railway to the city of Herat in Afghanistan, and in the next six months, this railroad will be commissioned," Aghaie said.
This section is being constructed as part of the project for construction of the Iran-Afghanistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway.
Aghaie said that following preliminary discussions, a general agreement was reachedj to build the railway from Iran to China.
He noted that the railway will be extended from Herat to the city of Mazari Sharif in Afghanistan.
"But the problem is that the question of who will finance the construction of the Herat-Mazari-Sharif railway section, located inside Afghanistan, remains unresolved. Therefore, the construction of the railroad is being delayed," Aghaie added.
Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan agreed on the need to construct a railway running through the territories of these countries in July 2012.
Iran expressed readiness to finance the Kyrgyz section of the railway.
Tajikistan's Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the length of the railway linking China's Kashgar city with Afghanistan's Herat city, will be 1,972 kilometers.
The length of the Tajik section of this railway, running from the Nizhny Panj to the border with Kyrgyzstan will be 296 kilometers.
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