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Kazakhstan to Construct Four Railway Lines for Caspian Transport System

Oil&Gas Materials 25 April 2008 12:49 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 April / Trend corr I. Khalilova/ "Within the framework to create the Caspian Transport System, Kazakhstan plans to commence the construction of two railway lines (Eralievo-Kurik and Mangishlak-Bautino) in 2008," Svetlana Gonova, head of Transit Policy Department at Kazakhstan Transport Ministry, said in Baku on 24 April. Implementation of the projects depends on the signing of the agreements, but the construction is most likely to begin by the end of this year.

The Mangishlak-Bautino railway line with a length of 135.1 km will be routed to west Kazakhstan and is planned to be constructed within 2007-09. The project will costs 22.7 bln tenges.

Construction of the Eralievo-Kurik railway line with a length of 14.4km will cost 7.6 bln tenges and is planned to be completed in 2009.

Kazakhstan also plans to construct the Beyneu-Zhezkazgan railway line in the Caspian region with a length of 988 km. According to Gonova, a feasibility study will be developed for the project this year, then it will be defined whether the railway line will be constructed through Kazakhstan's state budget or through private investment. Financing sources have not been yet determined. The project expected to cost 274.2 bln tenges.

In addition, Kazakhstan intends to construct railway lines through three Caspian countries, namely Uzen ( Kazakhstan)-Barakat-Atrak ( Turkmenistan)-Gorgan ( Iran) with a length of 670 km and at a cost of $670 mln. The section of the railway line in Kazakhstan (130km) is expected to cost 19 bln tenges ($160mln), Turkmenistan (470km) and Iran (70km) - $56mln.

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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