The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) route intends to involve Azerbaijan in the international railway project, Director General of the state railway company “Kyrgyz Temir Zholu” Azamat Sakiev told journalists, Report informs.
“A large-scale mega-project of strategic importance for both Central Asia and global logistics has been launched in Kyrgyzstan. We are talking about the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan route, which in the future will be integrated with transport corridors through Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and further to Europe. We plan to promote this route in Azerbaijan in order to attract the country's interest and participation in the project,” he noted.
According to Sakiev, construction work has already begun.
“The project is planned to be completed and the road put into operation by 2030. At the first stage, the throughput capacity will be about 5 million tons, and later up to 15 million tons per year. The uniqueness of the route is its speed - the delivery of goods from China to Europe will take only seven days,” said the head of Kyrgyz Temir Zholu.
He emphasized that an important competitive advantage will be a flexible tariff policy due to close cooperation with the railways of China, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
“We are currently developing a tariff mechanism that will make the route more profitable compared to alternative directions. In particular, construction is already underway on a section from Kashgar (PRC) to the border with Kyrgyzstan in Torugart - this is 180 km through China and 301 km from Torugart to Jalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan. In Uzbekistan, the infrastructure is already ready, we just need to complete the Kyrgyz section, which is planned for 2030,” he explained.
He added that the new railway will be used for both container and chain cargo transportation. Passenger service is also planned.
Sakiev noted that coal exports to Europe have recently increased, so gondola cars and covered wagons will be used on the route.
In September 2024, the creation of a joint venture was announced in Bishkek: 51% of the shares were received by China, 24.5% each by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The total budget of the project is $4.7 billion.