Afghanistan-Uzbekistan-Pakistan railway cost estimated $7 billion

KABUL: The construction of the Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan Trans-Afghan railway project is estimated at $7 billion, Kun.uz news agency reported the other day. Recently, head of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport, Ilkhom Mahkamov, held negotiations in Pakistan with local industry departments and large transport and logistics companies NLC-Logistics and TCS. The Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Pakistan railway construction project can be implemented through a PPP in the Build-Operate-Transfer format. The parties also agreed to develop multimodal transportation along the Trans-Afghan corridor, reduce transportation fees, simplify cargo transportation and speed up the construction of a railway through Afghanistan. The Trans-Afghan Highway initiative was launched in 2018. At that time, the project with an annual transportation potential of 20 million tons of cargo was estimated at $5 billion. In July 2022, Uzbekistan Railways shared “Boshtransloyikha” calculations. The institute put the estimated cost of building the railway at $4.6 billion, and the project will take 5 years to complete. Last December, Pakistan estimated the construction of the railway between Pakistan and Uzbekistan at $8.2 billion. The Kabul Times