President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, and General Manager of Kyrgyz Temir Joly, Argynbek Malabaev, discussed the Kyrgyzstan – China rail project, writes Kabar News Agency.
The President instructed to work closely all relevant issues related to the implementation of this project, as well as to discuss them once more with the relevant Chinese authorities.
The rail line would connect China and Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan and its length is 268 km. The line will run from China’s city of Kashgar in Xinjiang through the Arpa valley via Kyrgyzstan’s Kara-Suu town to Uzbekistan’s city of Andijan in the Ferghana Valley. The total value of the project is estimated at USD 2 billion.
According to the China Road and Bridge Corp., Kyrgyzstan’s government is dragging its feet over precise terms of the contract, which have been variously portrayed as a 51-percent Kyrgyzstani-owned joint venture, with China Road and Bridge Corp. retaining the remaining 49 percent, to China Road and Bridge Corp. receiving a 100-percent lease on the railway line for a number of years in return for fully funding its construction, with annual railway revenues projected at USD 210 million being used eventually to pay back construction costs, wrote Kabar News Agency in 2014.
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