Turkmenistan-Afghanistan railway to be built by June 2015

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 18 / Trend H. Hasanov / The Turkmen Ministry of Railway Transport will act as a customer and a general contractor for the construction project of the "Atamyrat-Ymamnazar (Turkmenistan) - Akina (Afghanistan)" railway line, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's decree said today. According to the decree, the project also includes the construction of additional facilities and two bridges along the railway. The construction work at these facilities will begin this month and they are planned to be put into operation in June 2015. According to the document, the date of delivery corresponds to the General Plan of Turkmen Railway Transport Development for 2012-2016. A solemn ceremony for launching the construction was held in the Lebap region of Turkmenistan in early June with participation of the presidents of the three countries - Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Hamid Karzai and Emomoli Rahmon. The project is being implemented within the tripartite memorandum of understanding signed in Ashgabat in March 2013. Ashgabat and Kabul signed the inter-governmental framework agreement on this project in 2011. Turkmenistan, which has a long border with Afghanistan, has repeatedly voiced a number of initiatives for social and economic regeneration of the neighboring state, which have been positively assessed by the UN and the OSCE. At the beginning of the year, the Turkmen capital hosted an international working meeting to promote the development of Afghanistan with the participation of neighboring countries, international organizations and potential donor-countries. The largest of the proposed projects is the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. Ashgabat believes that the construction of the pipeline will enable to solve a number of important issues connected with creating new jobs and forming the infrastructure along the gas main line. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az