Impact of land mines on the Mazar-i-Sharif railway project

The report The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines (PDF) discusses the problems land mines caused for the Hairatan – Mazar-i-Sharif railway construction project:

Late into the execution of the project, [anti-vehicle mines, anti-personnel mines and explosive remnants of war] were discovered. The initial assessment revealed a 3 sq km area of contamination at an estimated cost of USD 3 million to clear, which came close to matching Afghanistan’s national contribution to the project.

This pattern has been repeated in other infrastructure development projects, particularly with AVMs due their low detectability in Afghanistan. MACCA contacted development projects throughout the country in 2013 and found that a number were in hazardous areas. Out of 430 registered development projects in Afghanistan (roads, bridges, dams, rail, agriculture, electricity expansion), 71 of these projects are affected by mines and ERW, and at least 21 are heavily affected by AT mines, consisting of roughly 225 square kilometres of land.

As a result, MACCA actively encourages a sustainable and continuous process in communication with the development sector; otherwise, as in the case of the railway project, the country suffers huge financial losses that it cannot afford.

Source: The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines, Geneva International Centre For Humanitarian Demining and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, September 2014, pages 63-64)

On pages 64-65 the report discusses the impact of mines (of the explosive variety) on the Aynak copper mining project.

Railways and the Mes Aynak copper mine contract

The April 2008 contract1 between the Afghan government and the MCC-Jianxi Copper Consortium (also known as MCC-JCL Aynak Minerals Company2) for the construction of the copper mine at Mes Aynak has been leaked,3 enabling us to see what it really says about the proposed railway project.

Mes Aynak archeologists camp

Mes Aynak (meaning “little copper well” or similar) is in Logar province, around 35 km south of Kabul.

Part V section 30 (page 23) of the contract says that “MCC has made a commitment to the Government of Afghanistan to construct, at MCC’s sole expense, a railway associated with the project”. This commitment is “memorialized” in a memorandum of agreement forming appendix 7 (page 57-59), “which shall be adopted and incorporated into the Mining Contract as an enforceable part of this Mining Contract”.

As far as I can tell, the contract doesn’t set out much in the way of technical or route details for the railway. In fact, the parties acknowledge that at the time of the contract “the specific conditions and requirements for the route, construction and operation of the railway have not been definitively established”.

In October 2011 Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said the initial route had been determined the proevious year, and would run from Kabul to Torkham (on the Pakistan border near the Khyber Pass) and from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif via Ghorband, Bamyan and Naybabad. However MCC still needed to sign a contract with China Railway Co for a technical survey.4

It would seem that the mining contract agreement requires a feasibility study for the railway to be undertaken, but does not require that the line is built if this study comes out against it.

(Elsewhere, it has been suggested that a railway is not essential for the copper project, as road transport could be used. This is in contrast to the Hajigak iron ore mining schemes, where the volume of iron ore means that a railway would probably be the only viable transport option.)

The memorandum is binding and “shall form the basis of a definitive railway agreement to be negotiated and concluded by the Parties.” It commits MCC to “conduct reconnaissance (survey) and prepare a feasibility study according to the schedule provided in MCC’s August 16, 2007 letter.” The feasibility study will then be provided to the government for review. If the government disagrees with the conclusions of the study, it may retain an independent expert to review the study.

On completion of the study, and on “on the basis of the railway project being feasible“, MCC would arrange 100% of the finance for the railway and design and build it “on its own” under a build own operate transfer (BOOT) model. The government would use assist MCC in securing the land and route. MCC would be responsible for overall operation and management of the line.

The memorandum requires the parties to negotiate in good faith to conclude a railway agreement within 12 months of the effective date of the mining contract (the effective date is defined as 2 months from the date of the the signing of the contract and final approval by China’s National Development & Reform Commission and Afghanistan’s Council of Ministers). The parties agree that failure to conclude such an agreement within that timeframe shall constitute cause for the mining contract to be revoked.

Part XI section 47 c (page 35) deals with the compensation arrangements if the agreement required in section 30 (or various other sections covering other matters) is not reached.

Within the two years before the full recovery of MCC’s investment, the government would form an operating entity or a joint venture with MCC to study and formulate policies regarding the operation and management of the railway following its take-over by the government. MCC will provide free training on maintenance, operation and management of the railway.

The terms of the memorandum could be modified by agreement of the parties.

MCC to commission studies for north-south railway

The Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani has said Chinese copper mining concessionaire MCC should award contracts for surveying railway lines from Kabul to Torkham (on the Khyber Pass border with Pakistan), and from Kabul to Kabul to Ghorband, Bamiyan and Naibabad (for Mazar-i-Sharif and Hayratan).

I think “China Railway(s) Company” is China Railway Group, who undertook work on the Kabul – Jalalabad road.1 However there are a number of Chinese organisations with similar names which can be hard to untangle.

Technical research for Kabul-Mazir and Kabul-Torkham railways begins soon

According to Aynak Copper Project contract, MCC are required to extend the railways sub projects for transportation of copper. Accordingly a meeting took place between the relevant organizations at the Ministry of Mines to discuss the coordination and regular implementation, and, identifying routes for the railway tracks.

The Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said at the meeting that the preliminary track – from Kabul to Torkham and from Kabul to Mazarisharif via Ghorband, Bamyan and Naybabad to Hairatan – of the railway was determined last year. Now it is necessary for MCC to sign a contract with a company for technical survey though a bidding process.

“The China Railway Company which is familiar with the territory of Afghanistan and have experience in constructing the Polikhomri-Shikhanbander and Kabul-Jalalabad roads, has been identified as being the winning company of the tender, and will begin the technical research for Kabul-Mazar and Kabul-Torkham railways” Said Mr. Shahrani

Mr. Shahrani believed that the creation of railways in Afghanistan is a complex undertaking and therefore there is need for an independent railways organization inside the government.

He stressed that the creations of most of railways are related to mining projects therefore for the time being all of railways projects will be related to the Ministry of Mines.

“These railways will not be limited to transportation of minerals, but will be used in different sectors like trading goods etc.” He said.

The exact expenditures of the project will be estimated after the technical research implemented by the China Railways Company.

Source: Ministry of Mines, dated 2011-10-17, published 2011-10-18

  1. Record results for China Railway IPO, China Economic Review, 10 January 2011

Rail Projects Underway, But a Uniform Network Remains Elusive

I’ve had a number of e-mails lately about mentions of Afghan railways in Wikileaks, so I probably ought to do something with them.

This message was reported by Aftenposten on 25 January 2011 but dated “1.2.2010” by the newspaper (1 February 2010, assuming the newspaper is using European date formats). There doesn’t appear to be anything militarily sensitive here, just a bit of interesting stuff about railways, answering some questions. There is confirmation of the Iranian project, pessimism about the copper mine railway plan, and it ends by not sounding very keen on railway development at all.

SECRET SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000388

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2035

TAGS: ELTN, EINV, ECON, PGOV, AF, IR

SUBJECT: Rail Projects Underway, But a Uniform Network Remains Elusive
Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4 b and d.

1. (U) Summary: While two rail construction projects in Afghanistan are underway

Hairatan – Mazar-i-Sharif and Iran – Herat

and several more are under discussion, the dream of a nationwide rail network remains remote. Small-scale projects sponsored by neighboring countries require different rail gauges, matching those of the countries these projects border; while the security situation is delaying two projects and likely deterring proposals for more. The enforcement of a single rail gauge is not practical since it would fail to make connections with at least half of Afghanistan´s neighbors. The Afghan Government must obtain funding f´ and build gauge changing stations if it is serious about connecting Afghanistan´s major population centers and industrial areas by train. End Summary.

Herat and Mazar: The Trains Have Left the Station

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2. (S) The rail link from Herat to Torbat-E Heydarieh, Iran, funded by the Iranian Government, is more than half complete. The section the Iranians are building and funding in Afghanistan is approximately 60 km from their border eastward toward Herat. The Afghan government under the original bilateral agreement with Iran is obligated to fund construction of the Afghan railroad’s second half, consisting of an additional 60 km of track onward to the western suburbs of Herat city. Iran uses standard gauge (1435 millimeter) track within Iran and is likely to use track to this specification within Afghanistan. (Note: standard gauge is the predominate gauge in the United States.)

It would be strange to use any other gauge for this section of line, as presumably no-one will want to take traffic from Iran or Herat to the frontier point and no further.

3. (SBU) Afghan Government officials toured the Iranian-funded portion of the project January 16 [2010] and were reportedly told by Iranian engineers that the rail bed was essentially completed and the rail laying could be completed in 60 days. They also met Afghan owners of property along the first half of the portion of the railroad to be funded by the Afghan government and informed them they would be compensated for the right of way within 20 to 30 days. The Afghan Ministry of Finance has allotted 97 million Afghanis (a little less than $2 million) for this. Herat Governor Nuristani said the Ministry of Finance has promised approximately $55 million for constructing the last stage of the railway, including compensating landowners for right of way for the second half of Afghan portion. Under the terms of the agreement to build the rail line, Afghanistan promised to fund construction of half of the project within its borders and Iran committed to the other half within Afghanistan, as well as extending its own rail line to the border with Afghanistan.

This ties in with what I have heard elsewhere, but puts some numbers on it.

4. (S) Extending from the Afghan/Uzbek border at Hairaton to Mazar-i-Sharif, an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded, Uzbek Railways-constructed track will soon be under construction. The 75 kilometer rail line will cost approximately $170 million. ADB awarded the contract in October 2009. Uzbek Government-owned Uzbek Rail agreed to begin construction in December and finish by the end of 2010. However, security concerns have delayed Uzbek Rail´s construction preparations, such as barracks for workers (all of whom will come from Uzbekistan). Uzbek Rail asked ISAF to provide security forces for the site. ISAF was unable to do so but did agree to share actionable intelligence with Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assured the company that ANSF would provide security. According to a source in Tashkent, Uzbek Rail deemed ANSF protection insufficient and entered contract talks with an American private security contractor. The source also indicated Uzbek President Islom Karimov had ordered the company to start work immediately in early January.

I wonder why ISAF was unable to be involved?

5. (U) The railroad will be 1520 millimeter gauge, the standard across the former Soviet Union. It will connect with existing Uzbek tracks at Termez, Uzbekistan. This rail line is important to coalition forces in Afghanistan, who hope it can speed up the delivery of crucial supplies through the Northern Distribution Network, routing shipments through the former Soviet states to Afghanistan.

This is where it gets interesting:

Pakistani and Chinese Projects Off the Rails

– – – – – – – – – – — – – – – – – – – – – –

6. (C) When China Metalurgical Corporation (MCC) won the tender for Aynak copper mine in 2008, its bid included a promise to build a rail line “associated with the project.” The line would carry copper concentrate and eventually smelted copper to more accessible locations for onward distribution. In January 2010, World-Bank-funded analysts and a private MCC contractor told us the company currently considers the railway not feasible. During a meeting at the mine in September 2009, MCC leadership mentioned what they viewed as “flexible” the requirement to put in the rail, which then-Minister of Mines Adel roundly contradicted, saying the rail was required and “non-negotiable.” A draft of the contract obtained by the Embassy states that “MCC has made a commitment to the Government of Afghanistan to construct, at MCC´s sole expense, a railway associated with the Project…the Parties acknowledge and agree thatthe failure to conclude a railway agreement within this timeframe shall constitute cause for the Parties to revoke this Mining Contract.” In a recent Ambassadorial meeting, Minister of Mines Shahrani said the Aynak contract requires MCC to build “two rail lines” one north and one east, a statement inconsistent with our unofficial copy of the contract. The Embassy and World Bank analysts continue to encourage the Ministry to make the Aynak contract public for transparency reasons. If this occurs, however, the fact that MCC has still not completed an addendum to the contract that would specify when and where rail will be built may provoke controversy.

7. (U) Pakistani media reported January 17 that work on a Quetta-Kandahar rail line would begin soon.

Although it has been going to begin soon for well over 100 years…

The track is complete from Quetta to the Pakistani border at Weesh Chaman, however, the remaining seven kilometers of track to the Afghan border post at Spin Boldak, as well as the remaining 111 kilometers to Kandahar, are “on hold” by the Afghan Ministry of Public Works due to security concerns. Assuming Afghanistan and Pakistan do not build a facility to transfer cargo or change gauges at the border, the rail gauge would be 1,676 millimeters, known as broad gauge, the standard across the Asian sub-continent.

A gauge changer wouldn’t make much sense on a line which only went as far as Spin Boldak.

Hodgepodge Gauges: Problematic but Not the End of the Line

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8. (U) With three different rail gauges potentially entering the country, freight will need to be offloaded at break of gauge or facilities must be built to lift cars from the tracks and change their bogies (the chassis of a railway car.)

As a very minor point of note, the message says “bogies”, rather than the more usual US-English term “trucks”.

Changing the bogies on a 50-car train should take approximately five hours and could coincide with customs processing. However, it will significantly delay future passenger and freight trains if the independent lines ever connect. Dependent on donor funding for its rail development, Afghanistan is presently not in a position to enforce a single national rail gauge and must plan to mitigate the economic impact of multiple gauges. The ADB and other independent studies have recommended that Afghanistan adopt the Russian 1520 millimeter gauge within Afghanistan and install gauge change stations at Herat and Kandahar City. (Note: Dual- or variable-gauge tracks avert the need for specialized facilities but cost significantly more to build. To Post´s knowledge, no donor has expressed interest in funding this additional cost. End note.)

Presumably this is saying 1520 gauge from Hairatan – Mazar-i-Sharif – Herat (interchange with 1435 line to Iran) – Kandahar (interchange with 1676 line to Pakistan). That leaves open the question of the Chinese copper line, were it to be deemed feasible.

9. (U) Rail traffic volumes are also an issue. The general rule of thumb is that a rail line is not economically viable with less than 5 million tons of throughput. Anything less than this is more efficiently handled by trucks.

Anyone got any thoughts on those figures?

The anticipated volumes from and through Afghanistan to Iran fall far short of this.

10. (U) Comment: Many countries, including Australia, Tanzania and Angola, operate railroads of different gauges.

As I understand it Angloa is all 1067 mm (Cape gauge) now. The railways are all independent lines running inland from ports, with little prospect of lines being built parallel to the coast to link them up.

These gauge differences become significant, however, as the number of gauges proliferate within country. On the other hand, even the most far-sighted donor would hesitate to build a link to Afghanistan requiring cargo to be offloaded at its border or the construction of an expensive break of gauge facility. It is clearly in the interests of Afghanistan´s neighbors to seek matching rail gauges within Afghanistan, and, unfortunately, Afghanistan is not in a position to adopt a single common rail gauge that would isolate it from at least half of its neighbors. We are encouraging the Afghan Government to plan wisely when evaluating future rail projects and consider the impact of volume and gauge changes on rail efficiency and economy.
End comment.

11. Embassy Tashkent has cleared this cable.

EIKENBERRY

Code for “we don’t think railways are a good idea”?

There are also cables regarding 05.10.2009: Security and Social Issues at Aynak Copper Mine:

Reportedly, MCC has also signed a memorandum of agreement committing to lay a rail line running north and south, connecting Aynak with the proposed Hajigak iron mine and its associated coking coal mine in Bamyan province.

4. (SBU) During a September 17 [2009] meeting with Mining Minister Adel, Aynak Police Commander Mohammad Mosen, and U.S. military and civilian representatives, MCC-Aynak President Zou suggested that MCC may not build a rail line for Aynak. Minister Adel insisted that MCC has a contractual commitment to install the line, but admitted in a later aside that the rail contract had not yet been signed.

And 10.12.2009: Chinese Firm Re-Thinks Afghan Mining Contract After Difficulties Of The Aynak Copper Mine Project:

[China Metallurgical Group Corporation President Shen Heting told a visiting U.S. delegation] existing roads would be sufficient to transport the copper from the mine and that construction of a railway from the mine to the Pakistan port of Gwadar was not economically justified. However, he reiterated that the Chinese government was urging the company to honor its commitments, suggesting that MCC might eventually build some railway.

China and the Aynak copper mine

An interesting NBC article from 2009 discussing China’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the Aynak copper mine in particular.

In addition to setting up the copper production infrastructure, which includes a smelter, power generation station, coal mine and groundwater system, the Chinese joint venture is also building roads, Afghanistan’s first national railway, new homes for villagers who will be resettled from the immediate area of the mine, hospitals and schools.

Source: Resource-hungry China heads to Afghanistan, Adrienne Mong, NBC News, 2009-10-14

Minister says Turkmenistan link is next

Megha Bahree of Forbes interviews Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shahrani, about mining projects. The article includes this about the next phase of the railway plans:

Shahrani: Right now we have up the railway line from Uzbekistan to Mazar-i-Sharif, which is a big commercial center. This 75 km long railway line cost $175 million and was funded by the ADB. Next phase will be from Afghanistan to the Turkmenistan border. This is 257kms and will take three years and we expect the tenders out by early next year. Apart from this, MCC is also constructing a 921km long railway line that will link Kabul with Turkmenistan, Pakistan, central highland to Mazar-i-sharif.

Source: In The Shadow Of The Taliban, Afghanistan’s Mining Sector Is Open For Business, Megha Bahree, Forbes, 2010-10-21

Agreement signed for north-south corridor studies

This looks potentially significant, although the words if feasible are probably quite important. I will try to study the announcement in more detail later this week.

MINISTER SHAHRANI SIGNS HISTORIC RAILWAY AGREEMENT

Kabul: September 22, 2010

Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani today signed an historic agreement with the China Metallurgical Company (MCC) for a railway to connect Kabul to Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
This northern railway project is part of the Aynak Copper Mine Contract, signed between the Government and MCC. The contract specifies that MCC constructs a railway, if feasible, from northern Pakistan through Kabul to southern Uzbekistan. This rail link will connect Afghanistan to the railways of Pakistan, India, and South East Asia and to the extensive rail system of China, Europe and Central Asia.

Minister Shahrani said, ‘When complete, the railways will give substantial benefits for the Afghan economy in trade, employment and cheaper prices. This northern railway is part of a wider plan to extend the Afghan rail network to connect Afghanistan to ports in Iran and Pakistan.’

The next step is for MCC to commission and fund a competitive tender for a feasibility study to examine the preferred route proposed by the Government’s Inter-Ministerial Railway Committee. It will take up to two years for the detailed route study and another six months to complete the full feasibility study.

The feasibility of the second part of the railway, from Kabul through Bamyan, Doshe, Kunduse, Niadabob, Hairetan and on to Uzbekistan, will be studied for an additional 18 months with construction to follow.

MCC will build the railway according to the ‘BOOT’ principle – ‘Build, Own, Operate and Transfer’. MCC will own the railway until it has recovered its capital costs through collecting transport fees. The details of the BOOT Agreement will be negotiated once the Government have approved the feasibility study prepared by a independent contractor funded by MCC.

The railway will be designed to have the size and capacity to carry the heaviest of loads – copper cathodes, copper concentrates, and commercial goods for transit, agricultural products, passengers and normal freight.

MCC will employ Afghan labor as much as possible in the construction and operation of the railway. Prior to the transfer of ownership to the Government, MCC will complete a training program for Afghan workers to operate the railway. The training will range from

basic functions to high level executive management.
Estimated costs for the entire railway range from US $ 4 –5 billion. Completion of the entire route could be within five years from starting the detailed route survey.

Benefits
The opening the new railway will bring many benefits to Afghanistan. Costs of goods and services will fall due to lower transportation costs. Huge economic and social development opportunities will arise along the rail route as companies switch from road to rail transport. The mining and extractive industries will become more cost effective along the resource corridor developed with the railway.
Source: Ministry of Mines, 2010-09-22

MCC to build Kunduz – Jalalabad railway

“75km Railway to be Completed in Afghanistan”, reported TOLOnews on 2 August 2010. Work is “50 percent completed”, and there is a new opening date: “I hope the construction of this rail-road will be completed by the end of March, 2011,” said the Minister of Public Works, Abdul Qudoos Hamidi.

There is also this hint at something much bigger in the pipeline:

The ministry also adds that the Afghan government is planning to build 700km rail-road that will connect the capital Kabul with the northern province of Kunduz and the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The railway will be built by the MCC Chinese Company.

“The primary studies of this rail-road have already started, and its contract will be signed soon,” said Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ahmad Shah Wahid.

Source: TOLOnews, 2010-08-02

MCC is presumably China Metallurgical Group Corporation (rather than the other MCC). The Chinese group was selected for a concession to develop the Aynak copper deposits in 2007, with a railway proposed as part of the project.

The plan which seems to be firming up is to build a new north-south railway starting from Tajikistan. There would be a new line from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, to the Tajik-Afghan border near Kunduz. The route would then run through Afghanistan from Kunduz to Kabul and the Aynak mining area, continuing on to Jalalabad. There would then be an onward link to the Pakistan Railways network, joining the line through the Khyber Pass to access to Pakistan’s coast.

Pakistan keeps talking about reinstating the out-of-action Khyber Pass line and extending it to Torkham (the Afghan border town) and possibly Jalalabad (the first major town in Afghanistan). However Pakistan Railways is reported to be facing serious financial and structural problems at present.

And as a correspondent points out, “railroads are built with money, not signed agreements to build railroads”.

Pakistan and Iran to Turkmenistan and China by rail

Railway from Torkham to Amo Darya connects Middle Asia to Indian Ocean

Dip Engineer M Ibrahim Adel Minister of Mine of Afghanistan met with Abdul Rahim Ashur Minister of Transport and communication of Tajikestan.

Dr Jalil Shams Minister of Economy, Ministry of Mine of Afghanistan deputies and deputies from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, education and agriculture of Tajikestan also participated in the meeting.

The Minister of Mines explained the Aynak copper project to Tajikistan delegation, “a part of the Aynak project would be to extend the railway from Amo Darya to Torkham, the other parts of the railway would be in Pakistan and china that connects middle Asia to Indian Ocean in Karachi in Pakistan and Bandar Abbas in Iran“, Said Minister of Mines of Afghanistan.

[…]

“We believe that Aynak Copper Project is the start for Afghanistan to use the natural resources “, said Minister of Transport and communication of Tajikistan. He also hoped to increase the facilitated transportation between Afghanistan and Tajikistan to obtain benefits from each others resources.

Minister Ashur also noted that the 1783 Km distance from Kabul- Tashghar is shortest way to connect middle Asia to china and the government of Tajikistan is ready to make more facilities for this issue.

He also said: “whenever the Afghanistan government wants to, we are ready to negotiate about Amo Darya River “.
Source: Ministry of Mines, 2010-05-10

Aynak copper mine project update

A May 2010 update on the Aynak copper project. No mention of railways, but “exploitation activities of the deposit will begin in two years”.

Aynak Copper Deposit Exploitation on Track to Begin Operations in Two Years

The Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani visited the Aynak Copper Deposit to observe ongoing research activity and equipment installation.

While visiting the Aynak copper deposit, Mr. Shahrani told MCC authorities there that the techno-economical research should be accelerated, and that according to the contract, the resulting report is to be completed in six months for presentation to the Ministry of Mines.

The main goal of the trip to Aynak was to assess the work progress thus far at the deposit. The area of demined land is about three million square meters. More the five thousand square meters of land has been drilled so far to determinate the potential capacity of deposit.

A 17 Km long security ring road also has been built, the work at the base of deposit has been completed, the building of the project headquarters is 70% competed, and more than 65 police posts have been established around the deposit.

According to the terms of the contract, it is expected that the assembly and installation of technical equipment will be completed in one year, while exploitation activities of the deposit will begin in two years.
Source: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Mines, 2010-05-27

A 2008 announcement gives details of the Anyank copper mine project and associated railway plan.

The largest contract in history of Afghanistan is signed

Exploration, exploitation, processing and smelting Contract of Aynak copper deposit signed between the ministry of mines of Afghanistan and MCC Company of China.

Eng. Ibrahim Adel minister of mines, Dr. Anwarulhaq Ahadi, minister of finance, Dr. Jalil Shams, minister of economy, Mr. Yang Houlan, Chinese ambassador in Kabul and Shen Heting chairman of MCC were present at the special ceremony for this occasion.

Inaugurating the ceremony, Eng, Adel said: ‘’I am glad to sign the contract of a project, which in viewpoints of physical mass, investment, and incomes for state and job opportunities, is the largest contract in the history of our country’’.

Pointing the history of copper resource of Aynak, the minister for mines said: ‘’about 40 years ago, the Aynak copper deposit was discovered and its exploration began, but unfortunately, its exploitation delayed for 40 years’’.

During the cooperation of former Soviet Union with the ministry of mines, there was a plan to enrich the copper ores to 30%, and as raw materials transfer outside of the country, the process of melting and infiltrating will had been there, but Afghan experts in point of national interests, restrained this plan and were not afraid in this regard.

Fortunately according to this contract, all of the exploration, exploitation, process, smelting and cathodic infiltration will done in side the country, that transfer the knowledge, experience and technology. This project provides electricity network and transportation facilities to the residences of around the copper resources of Logar province, and especially builds primary and secondary schools, regional markets, clinics and masques for the surrounding residents of the copper deposit of Aynak, Darband and Jowhar.

The minister for mines added: “This project provides high level of income for the government, and opportunities for more then 6000 people directly and for thousands others indirectly, is the largest project in the history of Afghanistan. And has other sub projects such as extinction of rail way form north of Afghanistan to Torkham border, exploration and exploitation of phosphors resours to produce the mineral fertilizer, exploration and exploitation of coal mines to generate 400 mega watts electricity – 200 MW will operate the project and other 200 mw will be bought by ministry of energy and water and distribute to people.- Each of these projects has economical and social benefits, specially the project of railway will have the basic and important role to reclaim the historic importance of Afghanistan (Silk way), and, because this railway will join the central Asia to south Asia and China, will not only play significant role in transit of mining products to international markets, but also will join the central Asian countries to the countries of south of Asia.

The minister of mines said: “While the usage of railway has vital pith for exploitation of iron mines, therefore this railway will increase the significance of Hajigak iron ore, the exploration and exploitation of which will be tendered internationally.

At the end, the minister for mines said: the implementation of this contract and investment will courage other national and international companies to investment in Afghanistan, an I am hopeful that this will be the first step toward the other large projects to interest for investment, and in the future more companies take part in tender and show their interest in investing in Afghanistan.

Yang Houlan, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, said: Afghan- China friendship has a long background and hope the project of Aynak will strengthen this friendship.

Appreciating the hospitality of Afghans, Shen Heting the chairman of MCC said: I am happy to gather in Kabul to sign an important contract, this project I hope to begin the new round of Afghan-China cooperation. 

Introducing the MCC Company, he added: “MCC is a large company, works under the supervision of government and have active presence in five continents of the world.”

Mr. Heting, said: ‘’this project, economically and socially is an important project for the people of Afghanistan’’, and he added that this project strengthen relationship between the two countries.

Dr. Anwarulhaque Ahadi, minister for finance, entitled the project, a great achievement for Afghanistan, and said the transparency and sincerity of its tender will provide great tendency for additional investments in Afghanistan.

He hoped that this will have not been the last contract, and in the future these kinds of project will play its role to purge the poverty and secure the national development.

Dr. Abdurahman Ashraf, advisor to the president in mining affairs and president of Kabul University, said: “Afghanistan has many more mines similar to Aynak copper resources, and I am hopeful the coming generations will sign the similar contracts for them.”

At the end of the ceremony, the ministry for mines of Afghanistan and Mr. Heting the chairman of MCC, signed the contract, and after that both of them answered the questions of journalist at a press conference.

Source: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Mines, 2008-05-25

There was an “inauguration” (start of work?) ceremony for the project in July 2009.