According to Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov, construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will begin in October 2024.
The Kyrgyz government is seeking to break away from its dependence on Kazakh and Russian railways, without which it is virtually cut off from transnational corridors. The creation of a major logistics route from China could greatly help the state budget. However, the rail route will undoubtedly help Kyrgyz exports, which have so far had to rely on neighbouring countries, particularly the aforementioned China, Russia and Kazakhstan. Kyrgyz products could thus be better marketed abroad. For Kyrgyzstan, as a landlocked country, the railway is the only opportunity to benefit from its location (i.e. west of China). It is known that this project has long been hampered by the issue of financing.
This is also an important issue for Uzbekistan, all its neighbours are landlocked, which is a very rare location for a country.
For China, it is a question of prestige, as the process corresponds to the development of the One Belt, One Road corridor (Belt and Road Initiative).
In practice, most of the construction will be on Kyrgyz soil, as the railway infrastructure of Uzbekistan and China is largely developed.
The feasibility study for the project was prepared by the China Railway Design Corporation. In July 2023, the parties announced the completion of the work and confirmed the technical and economic feasibility of the railway construction. The Kyrgyz part accounts for approximately $4.7 billion. The total cost of the project is USD 7.7 billion, which is more than half of the total project cost of USD 8 billion. USD 2.6 BILLION. This is mainly due to the difficult terrain and the number of tunnels and bridges on Kyrgyz territory (more than 50 tunnels and 90 bridges).
The route from China to Europe is expected to be shortened by 900 km. It can be assumed that many companies would prefer to travel in the bypass of Russia because of the political situation. However, the Russian Federation has a better railway infrastructure at the moment, which the Central Asian republics cannot yet compare with. Also, President Sadyr Zhaparov did not rule out possible funding problems in the long term. There is also the possibility that the geopolitical situation, thanks to which the project has gained momentum, may turn around.
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