DUSHANBE, February 16, 2015, Asia-Plus — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on February 13 approved a US$195 million IBRD loan for the Pap-Angren Railway Project in Uzbekistan.
According to press release issued by the World Bank, the project aims to help improve transport connectivity in the Ferghana Valley by enhancing the efficiency of transport services into and out of the Uzbekistan part of the Valley. The railway link will improve year round inter-regional accessibility for a population of 7.6 million. Small and medium enterprises will be able to expand their market access and increase their profits. The construction of the railway will also stimulate enterprises’ growing demand for workers in some key sectors such as textiles or the services sectors.
The project contributes to the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation or CAREC Program that is implementing a Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy focused on 6 transport corridors. The Pap-Angren investment is located along Corridor 2 that runs from the east to the west, from China to the Caucasus. The project also supports the government’s Medium Term Industrial Modernization and Infrastructure Development Program and is aligned with the main pillars of the World Bank Country Partnership Strategy for 2012-2015.
The project development objectives are to reduce transport costs and to increase transport capacity and reliability through the construction of a rail link between the Uzbek part of the Ferghana Valley and the rest of Uzbekistan. The line will offer a faster, cheaper, all season, and safer and more reliable transport service. The State Joint Stock Railway Company “Uzbekistan Temir Yullary” (UTY) is forecasting about 600,000 passengers to use the new infrastructure and about 4.6 million tons goods to be transported during the first year of operation. The project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 200,000 tons annually.
The total project cost is US$1,633.75, of which US$1,088.75 million is provided from the UTY own funds, the state budget and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan, US$350 million from China Exim Bank, and US$195 million from the World Bank (in particular, the International Bank for Reconstruction of Development or IBRD).
The project to build a single 124-kilometer track rail link between Angren and Pap includes a 19.2-kilometer rail tunnel through the Kamchik Pass.
The rail link through the Kamchik Pass will connect western and eastern parts of Uzbekistan along Uzbekistan’s northern border with Tajikistan.
We will recall that the only highway connecting Tashkent region and the Pap district in the Namangan region runs through the Kamchik Pass.
Uzbekistan has shipped cargo to the Ferghana Valley by motor transport for more than seven years that increases cost of goods manifold. Only fuels are shipped by rail through the Tajik northern province of Sughd.
