The World Bank's leadership expressed its readiness to support the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project and to attract other international financial institutions, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT) said.
This was discussed at a meeting between Deputy PM Sardor Umurzakov and WB Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde in Tashkent.
The World Bank, in particular, will provide funding for field research and provide technical assistance for the development of design estimates, the MIFT said.
In early February in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a roadmap for the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project. The project is planned to be prepared in May, and the construction of the railway will commence in September this year. A number of international financial institutions have expressed interest in financing the project - in particular, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
The Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway project is estimated at US$ 5 billion. It involves the construction of a 573 km railway with an annual transit potential of up to 20 million tons of cargo. According to the company, the new transport corridor will connect the European Union, Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and further the states of Southeast Asia.
