President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, by decree of April 8, instructed to involve the World Bank to develop a strategy for the transformation, development and privatization of the Uzbekistan Railways company by June 1.
In addition, a draft resolution on the transformation of the company should be developed by August 1, providing for:
- improving prices policies by creating a transparent and flexible fare system aimed at developing the activities of private operators with their own passenger and freight cars, as well as developing competition in the rail transport services market;
- improving the efficiency of operational and business processes at railway transport enterprises, including the integration of relationships between service organizations and consumers through digital transformation;
- privatization of sector of domestic and international rail freight and passenger service on the basis of public-private partnerships or franchises.
In August last year, Shavkat Mirziyoyev criticized the monopoly in the field of rail and announced the need to launch private logistics operators with their own cars. The President instructed the interim Chairman of Uzbekistan Railways Khusnutdin Khasilov to eliminate the monopoly in the field and gave one year of probation. “If necessary, you yourself will organize all this, you will take a loan yourself, you will beg the banks yourself,” he said, referring to the head of the company.
On March 11, Khusnutdin Khasilov was reprimanded for his work on industrial cooperation and localization of production.
