Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Feb.4 / Trend D. Azizov /
Uzbekistan will attract a loan from the Japanese International Development Agency (JICA) amounting to 20 billion yen for the electrification of the Karshi-Tashguzar-Baysun-Kumkurgan-Termez Railway in the south of the republic, a source at Uzbekistan Railways told Trend on Friday.
It is expected that the loan agreement will be signed next week during Uzbek President Islam Karimov's planned visit to Japan.
The project worth $348.8 million envisages the electrification of the railway section with a length of 325 km and the development of the infrastructure and social facilities of the railway line. The project implementation period is seven years.
In addition to the loan, the project will be funded at the expense of Uzbekistan Railways' own funds, as well as the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development.
The railway line links the two southern provinces of the country - Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya - while bypassing Turkmenistan, thus reducing the previous passenger and freight traffic distance by 170 km.
In 2011-2018, Uzbekistan Railways plans to implement electrification projects along separate sections with a total length of 865.5 km and a cost of $1.064 billion.
The implementation of these projects will allow passenger and cargo traffic to increase by 20 percent in the southern direction of the republic, as well as to increase the transit of goods through Uzbekistan to neighboring Afghanistan.
The total length of railways in Uzbekistan is 4,200 km, 930 km of which are electrified. In total, the country plans to electrify about 2,000 kilometers of railways.