Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Withdrawal of the US airbase from the Manas Transit Center will start in July 2014, Kyrgyz Telegraph Agency quoted Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiyev as saying on July 9.

According to him, the US airbase will not stay in Kyrgyzstan and ideas to that end are merely speculations.

"The agreement on the denunciation was ratified by Jogorku Kengesh [Kyrgyz Parliament] and signed by the President. The coalition forces will withdraw in July 2014," he said.

Satybaldiyev went on to say that Manat Transit Center has reduced the number of military flights by 30 percent while the volume of civil flights has increased by 20 percent.

Financial loss is expected and the Kyrgyz government is working over the issue, he said and mentioned the establishment of a hub.

Satybaldiyev said negotiations on creating a hub in the transit center are underway with Turkey, Russia and other countries.

He said further that service and cheap aviation fuel are needed for the hub.

Kyrgyzstan is not able to supply the aviation fuel and therefore negotiations are underway with potential investors.

The Transit Center, formerly called a military base, was opened at the Manas airport in late 2001. The center is a major logistics hub for transportation of goods and the anti-terror coalition forces to Afghanistan. At present, it accommodates about 1,200 US soldiers. According to Pentagon statistics, the base handles up to 15,000 coalition servicemen and 500 tons of cargo a month.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said earlier that following the withdrawal of the U.S. military the airport has to become an entirely civilian facility. Atambayev has repeatedly said his country will not extend the stay of foreign military staff in its civil airport under any circumstances.

Kyrgyz statistics show that the airport serves 1.1 million passengers a year. If it suspends its main activity, the figure will drop to 300,000-400,000 people, and the airport will sustain a loss of $7.65 million annually.

It is estimated that if the new airport were to operate at full capacity, freight can bring a profit of $250 million per year, and maintenance of commercial aircraft would bring another $150 million.

Earlier the Kyrgyz parliament supported a bill on the denunciation of the agreement between the governments of Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. on Manas Transit Center in three readings. According to the bill, the transit center halts its activity in Kyrgyzstan on July 11, 2014.