Kabul bets on iron

The Ministry of Public Works of Afghanistan has announced the signing of contracts for the design of the Herat-Kandahar railway. According to Tolo News, the work has been awarded to five Afghan companies. The design period is eight months, the cost is $264 million. The length of the designed section is 737 km. For comparison, the current length of all railway lines in Afghanistan is about 260 km. Tolo News cites experts who say that expanding the railway network not only reduces transportation costs, but also creates a suitable platform for attracting both domestic and foreign investment. “Afghanistan’s railways will become a vital link between Asia, Europe and the Middle East, offering strategic opportunities to Afghanistan and other interested countries, creating effective demand in Afghan markets and increasing the purchasing power of the population,” said one commentator. As Grigory Mikhailov, an expert on Central Asia and the editor-in-chief of LogiStan.info, told 1520International, the stated price is quite adequate for the task at hand. “On average, the cost of building 1 km of railway in mountainous conditions (including tunnels and aqueducts) is about $30 million. Thus, the Herat-Kandahar line should cost at least $2.5 billion. At the same time, the share of design costs in such projects is about 10%. For projects with complex engineering solutions - up to 20%. It turns out that the design costs in the Herat-Kandahar project should be about $300 million,” he explains. First of all, the designed road will be focused on the transportation of goods in intra-Afghan traffic, as well as transit cargo flows from Iran and Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India, Grigory Mikhailov believes. “I think that at least part of the work will be carried out by foreign specialists. The involvement of contractors depends on who will pay for the project. If the option with investments from China is implemented, we will see Chinese contractors. The participation of companies from Uzbekistan is also possible,” the analyst notes. Uzbekistan is showing great interest in the development of the railway network of Afghanistan. Thus, in August 2024, the company "Uzbekistan Temir Yollari" (Uzbekistan Railways) completed the reconstruction of the Hairatan-Naibabad-Mazar-i-Sharif railway line. 75 km of tracks were repaired and restored. The cost of the work was about $6 million. Also in April 2024, the authorities of Kazakhstan announced their readiness to supply Afghanistan with materials of their own production for the construction of the railway track, sleepers and fastenings.