Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 31
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
The World Bank is considering an opportunity of allocating a loan worth $200 million to Uzbekistan for the construction of the Angren - Pap railway line in the east of the country, the WB said on March 31.
In March, the WB together with the Uzbek side started preparing the project documentation for the loan to be completed in August this year, the bank said.
The loan can be approved by the WB board in January 2015, according to preliminary information. The loan will then be used to purchase the necessary equipment and machinery.
It was reported that Uzbekistan started the construction of the Angren-Pap railway in summer 2013.
The Angren-Pap railway line worth $1.9 billion, with a length of 129 km should run through the Kamchik pass and link the three oblasts in the east of the country - Andijan, Namangan and Fergana with the remaining part of Uzbekistan. The project envisages the construction of two tunnels.
The project worth $1.9 billion will be financed at the expense of the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund's loan worth $280 million, the state budget, the Uzbek railway company's own funds and loans of international finance institutes worth $1 billion.
It is planned to build a 19-kilometre railway tunnel as part of the project. It will be laid through the Kamchik pass.
In particular, the Chinese Eximbank delivered a loan worth $350 million for the laying of the tunnel for the new line in November 2013.
The China Railway Tunnel Group and Uzbekistan Railways signed a contract to construct a tunnel worth $455 million through the Kamchik pass in September 2013.
The Kamchik pass is on the Kurama Range at 1200 meters above a sea level.
There exists the only automobile route between the Tashkent region and the Pap region of the Namangan region, the Tashkent -Osh (A -373) through the pass. This strategically important road is periodically closed in winter because of the threat of avalanches.
The new railway would pass along the Uzbek northern border with Tajikistan.
Earlier it was reported that Uzbekistan refused to transport goods to the Ferghana Valley by rail through Tajikistan. The goods have been transported along the A- 373 road since January 2010.
The total length of railways in Uzbekistan is 4100 kilometres. Some 66 percent of cargo turnover in the country and almost 80 percent of the total volume of export and import cargo transportation fall to the railway.
Translated by NH
Edited by SM