Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan (UAP) signed a joint protocol of railway project on Tuesday at Ministry of Railways Islamabad.
The event was witnessed by Federal Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Federal Minister of Finance, Senator Ishaq Dar. The ambassadors of both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and other high level officials of the three countries participated in the ceremony.
The Joint Protocol was signed by three heads of the railways authorities. The Secretary/Chairman Pakistan Railways, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, Director General and CEO of Afghanistan Railway Authority, Alhaj Bakhtur Rehman Sharaf and Head of Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade and Department of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Dekhkanov D. T signed the document.
Federal Minister for Railways stated that today is a very important day for Pakistan and especially for Afghanistan and Uzbekistan Railways. He further said that it is a historic day for regional connectivity and we have laid the foundation for it.
The UAP railway project would not only facilitate the regional, transit and bilateral trades amongst the participating countries, but also provide better people-to-people connections to the entire region. The line will support both passenger and freight services, and would contribute in regional trade and economic growth.
The route for this connection will pass through Termiz in Uzbekistan, Mazar-i-Sharif and Logar in Afghanistan, and culminate in Pakistan via the Kharlachi border crossing in Kurram.
The parties also agreed on a roadmap for conducting technical studies, financing sources and other key aspects for early implementation of the project.
The parties appreciated the professional work of the experts of the three railways in achieving consensus on the final route and its implementation modalities.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed $1 billion trade agreement at Inter-Governmental Commission to increase bilateral trade between the two countries.
The three countries earlier agreed had agreed to a roadmap for the building of a 573-kilometer route from Mazar-e-Sharif to Peshawar, via Kabul. The project, at an estimated cost of US$5 billion, will open Pakistani seaports on the Arabian Gulf to Uzbekistan and continue Afghanistan’s gradual integration into the Central Asian economic system.
In Uzbekistan, the Central Asian, landlocked country, the deal has been called the “event of the century” by Tanzila Narbaeva, the Chairman of the national Senate, noting it as “another example of Uzbekistan actively pursuing an open and pragmatic foreign policy.”
There are however significant infrastructure and logistics difficulties ahead. The route traverses the Hindu-Kush range and reaches an altitude of 3,500 meters, making it one of the highest railroads in the world when completed.
The implementation of the Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway line will reduce the time and cost of transporting goods along the existing highway between Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul, while power lines from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are also being extended to Kabul and across Afghanistan. A railway will reduce transit times by an estimated 30%. It also reduces the delivery time of goods from the Russian border (Ozinki) to Karachi to 16-18 days, and from Termez to Karachi, 8-10 days. Rail traffic volume is expected to reach 10 million tons.
