Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 9
Trend - Demir Azizov
The Latvian company "Belam Riga" has signed a contract with the State Joint-Stock Railway Company "Uzbekiston temir yullari" ("Uzbek railways") on the transportation of equipment for the electrification of the Marokand-Karshi railway (the south of Uzbekistan), the representative of the State Company of Uzbekistan told Trend on Feb. 7.
According to the representative of the agency, the Latvian company has won the tender announced by the State Joint-Stock Railway Company "Uzbekiston temir yullari" on the transportation of equipment on three lots in April 2013. The lots included transformer substations, contact network, signalling system, centralization and blocking (CNTIC), telecommunication system and SCADA.
The representative of the Uzbek company has not named the cost of the contract because of the privacy conditions accepted while signing the contract. However, according to some experts` estimations, its cost is not less than $40 million.
"Uzbekistan Railways" started electrification of the Marokand - Karshi section with a length 140.8 kilometers in January 2012.
In total, the $234.7 million project also envisages reconstruction of the locomotive depot in Karshi city (the administrative center of Kashkadarya region) for the operation of the Tashguzar - Bojsun - Kumkurgan new railway line. Plans are to complete the project by 2017.
The project is being financed with a loan from the Asian Development Bank in the amount of $100 million, with funds of the Uzbek government in the form of customs and tax benefits totaling $23.8 million and the equity of Uzbekistan Railways State Railway JSC in the amount of $110.9 million.
The total length of Uzbekistan's railway is 4,200 kilometers, some 1,000 kilometers of which have been electrified, including over 700 kilometers in last seven years. In total, it is planned to electrify about 2,000 kilometers of railways in the country.
Around 60 percent of cargo turnover and 80 percent of the total volume of export and import cargo in Uzbekistan fall to its railways.
Translated by R.A.