UAE joins Uzbekistan’s railway push for access to Pakistani ports
Tashkent, Astana, and Abu Dhabi have agreed to launch a feasibility study for a railway running from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to Pakistan‘s seaports, potentially providing Central Asia with another route to the Indian Ocean.
The Kazakh government said earlier this week that transport and infrastructure officials from the UAE, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed a relevant memorandum. The three countries will assess the technical and economic feasibility of the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan railway (CASA) as well as infrastructure requirements and possible financing options.
A joint working group may also be set up to coordinate technical, financial and economic issues.
Read more: Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan advance Trans-Afghan trade corridor project
Route, costs and financing
No final route, construction timetable or project cost has yet been announced.
The UAE’s participation adds a new investor and logistics partner to a project closely linked to Uzbekistan’s long-running efforts to develop southern transport corridors through Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan has previously estimated that the wider CASA corridor could eventually handle up to 10 mln tonnes of cargo annually. For Uzbekistan, the project would offer another potential route to Pakistani ports, reducing reliance on longer overland corridors through other neighbouring states.
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Uzbekistan has separately been developing the Trans-Afghan railway with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Earlier estimates put its cost at around $4.6–6.9 bn.
The proposed southern route could eventually complement the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway, now under construction, creating another link between Central Asia, China and markets to the south.
