It will be possible to use railways or, alternatively, heavy-duty trucks for cargo transportation in the territory of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
Bishkek
Russia plans to participate in the development of two promising transport corridors associated with the North-South Transport Corridor, said Vadim Ganin, the CEO of the Association “Business Center for Economic Development of the CIS,” at the Second Meeting of the Transport Business Dialogue of the CIS, Orient.tm reports.
One of them is the creation of a multimodal corridor Russia – Caspian Sea – Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan – Kyrgyzstan, also known as the Southern Transport Corridor.
On the territory of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, for cargo transportation, it will be possible to use railways or, alternatively, heavy-duty trucks. The Kyrgyz side considers the latter option as a priority. Initially, containers from Kyrgyzstan are expected to be transported to the Turkmenbashi seaport by car trailers. Subsequently, they will be shipped to Russia, to Astrakhan, where there are several terminals capable of handling various types of cargo.
According to Kyrgyz estimates, initially, Kyrgyzstan is ready to provide a daily flow of 40 trucks. In the future, this number may increase to 150-200 heavy-duty trucks per day. However, to handle such a volume of transportation, the issue of ferry communication needs to be resolved.
If the intergovernmental project moves into the implementation stage, a logistics center will be created in the port special economic zone of Turkmenistan. In this center, goods from Kyrgyzstan will be stored before being sent to Russia. The parties will also open a regular shipping line for carriers.
The second project is the creation of the Trans-Afghan corridor, initiated by Uzbekistan in 2021. The new transport corridor aims to connect the EU, Belarus, Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and further Southeast Asian countries. It may be linked to the Southern Transport Corridor. Work on the technical and economic justification for the project is planned to be completed by July 2024.
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