WB may allocate funds to Uzbekistan to construct railway line
By Aynur Jafarova
The World Bank (WB) will consider allocating a loan worth $200
million to Uzbekistan for construction of Angren-Pap railway line
in the east of the country, the WB reported on March 31.
The loan, which will be used to purchase the necessary equipment
and machinery, can be approved by the WB board in January 2015.
In March, the WB together with the Uzbek side started preparing the project documentation for the loan to be completed in August this year.
Uzbekistan started the construction of the Angren-Pap railway in
summer 2013.
The Angren-Pap railway line worth $1.9 billion, with a length of
129 km should run through the Kamchik pass and link Andijan,
Namangan and Fergana with the remaining part of Uzbekistan. The
project envisages the construction of two tunnels.
The project worth $1.9 billion will be financed at the expense of
the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund's loan worth $280
million, the state budget, the Uzbek railway company's own funds
and loans of international finance institutes worth $1 billion.
The new railway would pass along Uzbekistan's northern border
with Tajikistan.
Earlier Uzbekistan refused to transport goods to the Ferghana
Valley by rail through Tajikistan. The goods have been transported
along the A- 373 road since January 2010.
The total length of railways in Uzbekistan is 4,100 kilometers.
Some 66 percent of cargo turnover in the country and almost 80
percent of the total volume of export and import cargo
transportation fall to the railway.
Uzbekistan joined the WB in 1992. The WB's mission in the country is to improve people's livelihood by supporting economic reforms, contributing to the modernization of the country's social sectors and infrastructure, and sharing its knowledge and experience with the government and the people of Uzbekistan. The WB's current commitments to Uzbekistan amount to over $1 billion.