China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan sign a financial agreement to build a new railway along the Belt and Road.
According to Kazinform, the maximum cost of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, which will be 304 kilometers long on Kyrgyz territory, is estimated at $4.7 billion. Of this amount, half of the project cost ($2.3 billion) will be financed in the form of a long-term loan from China, and the rest will be paid through the initial capital of the joint venture of the three countries. The share of each country in the initial capital of the company is 51 percent for China, 24.5 percent for Kyrgyzstan, and 24.5 percent for Uzbekistan, respectively.
According to the implementation plans, 50 bridges and 29 tunnels with a total length of 120 kilometers will be built along the route of this railway to ensure safety and ease of transportation.
The press office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan announced that an agreement has been signed between the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Limited Liability Company and a consortium of Chinese banks, including the China Development Bank and China Exim Bank. This important regional project has already entered the operational phase and is expected to facilitate rail connectivity between the three countries and significantly increase the scope for regional economic development and transportation.
This project is considered one of the strategic regional projects in Central Asia and aims to connect China’s railway network to Central Asian countries and facilitate transit routes to Europe. The idea of ​​constructing this route was proposed in the early 2010s and was pursued as a trilateral cooperation between China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.