Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Dushanbe has decided to extend the Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan (TAT) railway, a vital regional project, to Iranian seaports through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transportation said that the railroads would connect the Central Asian Republics to Iran. According to the ministry, the railway would become operational by 2018. Turkmenistan has already kicked off work over the important project, but Tajikistan is still seeking funds for the feasibility study. Dushanbe has approached the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in this regard. It is said that the ADB would provide financial support to Tajikistan to complete the feasibility study on its section of the railway project.
Economists believe that the ADB is interested in supporting the project because it is feasible and would increase inter-region and intra-region trade activities. The two Central Asian Republics will complete work on the sections in their respective territory.
According to a news report published by the Azer News, the 400 kilometer long railway project, the implementation of which has kicked off in June 2013, is of significant importance in terms of the political, strategic and economic interests of the all participating countries.
The project is aimed to connect the landlocked countries of the region with sea-routs and then to Southeast Asian and Eurasian markets.
Cargo transit has become a good source of foreign exchange revenue generation in modern-day economics. Therefore, the project would not only be a mean for exports, but also add handsome amount to exchequer of the participating countries.
