Specialists from the Republic of Korea are considering the possibility of connecting railways of Tajikistan and Afghanistan in order to create conditions for integration of roads of Central and Eastern Asia, the press center of the Ministry of transport of Tajikistan says.
The press center, in particular, notes that a special working group of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) arrived in Tajikistan last week to study the issue of attracting foreign investment to fund the feasibility study for construction of the Jaloliddin-Balkhi – Jaihoun — Panji Poyon railway.
It is noted that Tajikistan applied to the KOICA on the issue of attracting South Korean investment for implementation of the feasibility study for this project back in September last year.
The Korea specialists are expected to complete all necessary survey work by the end of this week.
Recall, this railway is a part the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway project. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for construction of the rail link connecting the three countries was signed during a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan that took place in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on March 20, 2013. The 400-kilometer railroad is expected to connect the Afghan town of Akina-Andkhoy to Atamurat-Ymamnazar in Turkmenistan and Panj in Tajikistan.
The presidents of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan officially inaugurated the construction of the railway connecting the three nations on June 5, 2013. The ceremony took place in Turkmenistan’s northeastern province of Lebap. The presidents buried a time capsule with a message to future generations under the first section of the railway line near the town of Atamyrat.
TAT railway will be a part of a broader regional transportation initiative that will open a new transit corridor between Central Asia and world markets through Indian Ocean ports, a route less than half as long as Central Asian existing railway export options through Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. It is expected to diversify the transport routes of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
