DUSHANBE, February 17, 2014, Asia-Plus — Iranian company, Metro, has not yet resumed work on feasibility study for construction of internal railway in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Transport (MoT).
The company reportedly suspended the work on the feasibility study in the second half of 2013 when the Government of Iran stopped funding the project.
An official source at a MoT says the Government of Iran was supposed to transfer a US$250,000 tranche at the end of the first half-year of 2013. “However, the tranche has not been transferred so far, and therefore, the work on conducting the feasibility study has been suspended,” the source said, noting that the first tranche (US$200,000) had been drawn until July 2013.
We will recall that the Government of Iran announced allocation of 1 million USD in no-strings aid for conducting feasibility study for construction of the Tajik stretch of rail link connecting Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. In 2010, the Tajik Ministry of transport and Iran’s Metro signed an appropriate document that was ratified by Tajikistan’s lower chamber (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament.
Later, following uncertainty around that regional railway, the Tajik stretch of this railway was reportedly re-qualified as a standard internal railway. The new railway is expected to be built from Tajikistan’s from Vahdat Township via the Rasht Valley to Kyrgyzstan’s Karamyk.
According to the preliminary data, a total length of this internal railway will be 270 kilometers. Because of complex relief, 8-10 million U.S. dollars are reportedly needed for construction of one kilometer of this section. The project also includes construction of 16 kilometers of tunnels and 47 bridges.
