The Asian Development Bank approved a US$754m multitranche financing facility “to rebuild Afghanistan’s shattered road and rail network” on 20 September 2011.

The money will be used to upgrade 578 km of roads and to fund “construction of new facilities to complement the recently completed train line connecting the northern hub of Mazar-e-Sharif and Uzbekistan.” The 75 km railway will be extended 225 km west, with “new tracks and stations between Mazar-e-Sharif and Andkhoy”.

There is a $33m cofinancing grant from the Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund, while “contributions from Japan and the United Kingdom, will be administered by ADB.”

According to ADB, Afghanistan’s road network “is incomplete, mostly in bad shape, and the railway network is in its infancy”.¹

“Infrastructure links the new mineral centers to markets, creates jobs, improves trade, and—perhaps most importantly—provides Afghans with a sense of hope for the future,” said Juan Miranda, ADB’s Director General for Central and West Asia. “With the development of modern road, rail and energy networks, Afghanistan is poised to reap the benefits of its strategic location and become a pivotal crossroads for trade and commerce in the region.”²

Updates will probably appear on ADB’s 44482: Transport Network Development Investment Program webpage.

There is a photo on the ADB website showing some hopper wagons dropping ballast onto the tracks, presumably during construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif line.