Tajikistan and Turkmenistan cannot agree on the route of the Afghan section of the railway - Minister of the RT

Almaty. February 4. Silkroadnews - Tajikistan and Turkmenistan cannot agree on the Afghan railway route linking three countries, the Tajik Telegraph Agency (TajikTA) reports.
“So far Tajikistan and Turkmenistan cannot agree on the route of the Afghan section of the railway, which shall connect three countries. Unfortunately, there is no programming document signed on this road yet, as still we have some outstanding issues with Turkmenistan,” - the Minister of Transport of Tajikistan Sherali Gandzhalzoda said.
He noted two routes have been proposed for the Afghan site.
The length of the shortest route, offered by Tajikistan, is 160 km. The length of the relatively more extended route, previously offered by the Afghan side, on which Turkmenistan insists on at present, is more than 500 km.
“We have agreed on all the issues with Afghanistan, the only thing left is to coordinate some issues with Turkmenistan,”- the Minister explained.
He emphasized that at present the Government of Turkmenistan studies the contract to be signed by the parties.
“As soon as the document is signed it will be possible to start to prepare the agreement for the direct implementation of the project to be signed by the heads of three states,” - he added.
It should be noted that Turkmenistan has already completed the construction of its 88 km long section for the future regional rail artery to the Afghan border.
At present the Turkmen side, at one’s own expense, is working over the Afghan section up to the city of Andkhoy.
To remind, the process of finalization and approval of the route of the road through Afghanistan continues starting from the first half of 2014.
Memorandum on construction of the railway Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan was signed in March 2013 by the Presidents of three countries. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planned to finance the project.