The Minister of Transport of Tajikistan, Azim Ibrohim, instructed his subordinate institutions to organize a pilot railway train along the multimodal corridor “China–Tajikistan–Uzbekistan–Turkmenistan–Iran–Turkey–Europe,” Asiaplus.tj reports.
The order was announced at an extended meeting of the ministry’s board on the results of the activities of the road transport industry of Tajikistan in the first half of the year and tasks for the third quarter of 2024, reports the press service of the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan.
He also ordered the construction of new transit railway lines and the gradual renewal of railway cars and locomotives.
Earlier, Azim Ibrokhim said that railway transport is the most important strategic industry in Tajikistan. Speaking at an event on the development of multimodal international transport corridors in May this year in Kazan, he noted that more than 70% of international cargo transportation in Tajikistan is carried out using rail transport.
According to the minister, more than 10 significant development projects have now been prepared in the railway industry, for the implementation of which they plan to allocate about $7.5 billion.
Azim Ibroohim emphasized that the country has identified 10 priority trade and transit corridors that pass through the territory of Tajikistan from East to West and from North to South.
“Particular attention is paid to the development of economic and transport multimodal corridors in Tajikistan, connecting the countries of Southeast Asia with the countries of Central Asia, Russia, Iran, Turkey and other European countries, which provide access to seaports,” he said.
The minister noted that active work is underway to effectively use the China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey corridor, which “promotes regional economic integration.”
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan at the end of last week, within the framework of the transport trade and export forum in Aktau, discussed the possibility of building a new railway that would connect these countries with Pakistan and India, the press service of the Kazakh government reports.
We are talking about the construction of the Turgundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin-Buldak railway, which will run from the western border of Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and further to India.
Joint participation in the implementation of this project was proposed by the head of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Mammetkhan Chakyev.
According to him, the Turkmen side has already agreed with their Afghan colleagues on the creation of a logistics center in Turgundi and intends to begin construction in the near future.
It is planned to build facilities for transshipment (the process of receiving/storing/shipping grain) of grain, containers and other cargo. It is expected that after the launch of the project, the logistics center will give impetus to an increase in cargo turnover from Turgundi.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
July 23, 2024