30 Jun 2022 15:21

Kyrgyz president hopes China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad construction begins next year

BISHKEK. June 30 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan is planning to start building the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad in 2023, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said on Thursday.

"We have taken the first step in good faith to start the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad next year," Japarov said at a meeting of the Kyrgyz Parliament.

Should the project be implemented, it will serve as a major source of income, same as Kumtor (the largest gold deposit in Kyrgyzstan), Japarov said. "Then we can start solving our socioeconomic problems that are constantly highlighted by voters among others," he said.

Transport and Communications Minister Erkinbek Osoyev said at a government meeting on June 28 that the ministry approved a preliminary route for the Kyrgyz section of the prospective China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad that might go through Torugart, Makmal and Jalal-Abad.

In his words, the respective feasibility study will be drafted in December 2022.

The construction of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railroad has been discussed since the early 2000s, and the negotiations intensified in 2017-2018.

Kyrgyzstan wants two drop-off stations to be built on its territory, while China wants the route to be direct, without stopovers in Kyrgyzstan.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad will serve as a new route for cargo transported to Eastern Europe through the Trans-Caucasian corridor and will cut the time of delivery from China and Central Asia to the EU and the Middle East.