Japan to extend $220-mln loan to Uzbekistan for railroad electrification
TASHKENT. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The Uzbek government and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Monday signed an agreement to extend an 18-billion-yen ($220-million) loan to the state-owned joint-stock railway company O'zbekiston temir yo'llari (Uzbek Railways).
These funds will be used to implement an electrification project for the Karshi-Termez railroad in southern Uzbekistan, a source in government circles told Interfax.
JICA is issuing the loan for a period of 30 years, with a ten-year grace period, at a rate of 1.2% per annum.
The $388.33-million project, which will be implemented in 2012-2017, involves electrification of the 325-kilometer-long Karshi-Termez railroad section, as well as infrastructural and social facility development. Besides the JICA loan, Uzbek Railway will use its own funds to finance the project.
The Karshi-Termez railroad includes the new Tashguzar-Baysun-Kumkurgan railway line, which was also built with Japanese financial support. The 223-km-long section connects two of Uzbekistan's southern regions - Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya - bypassing Turkmenistan, reducing the current distance by 170 km. The cost of the project was $447 million. Its logical continuation is the new electrification project, which is aimed at boosting Karshi-Termez's throughput capacity.
Uzbek Railway plans to electrify certain railroad sections measuring a total of 865.5 km in length in 2011-2018. The $1.064-billion project will increase passenger and freight flows in Uzbekistan's south by at least 20%, while also boosting freight transit in neighboring Afghanistan.
Of Uzbekistan's 4,200 km of railroad, 930 km have been electrified.