Student completes thesis in Afghanistan
A University of Canterbury student who has just graduated with a commerce degree completed much of his thesis in Afghanistan, avoiding suicide bombings and kidnappings.
Najib Hedayatullah gives his own insight of what he had to face along his journey of gaining a Master of Commerce from the University of Canterbury. Gaining his masters degree is a great achievement, especially given the challenges he faced writing it up from Kabul.
Najib was a refugee and came to Christchurch from Afghanistan as a teenage refugee and had to make his own way. His supervisor Associate Professor Colleen Mills says Najib went from repeatedly failing to get a bachelors degree to achieving an honours degree then a masters.
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“As I was analysing data for my thesis Afghanistan was going through elections which was an opportunity for my home country to head down a path of stability and prosperity. I had the choice of staying in peaceful Christchurch and continue my research or to go to Kabul and participate in the historical and transformational event. With my wife and two children – eight months and two years old – I became part of a movement which assisted the nation in taking on democracy.
“I now have a job as advisor to the director-general and the chief executive of the Afghanistan Railway Authority. I am also the project manager of a $20 million project for the management, operation, maintenance and training of people involved in the Afghanistan rail line.
“During my stay in Kabul and in the course of my University of Canterbury research analysis I faced many problems such as no electricity. Billions of dollars of aid poured into Afghanistan but because of widespread corruption, Afghanistan still does not have good electricity generating plants. They import electricity from the neighbouring counties. Security was another challenge, suicide bombings and kidnappings were major worries.
“Every morning when I was leaving home I was not sure if I would get back home alive. So the above factors had put me under enormous mental pressure, but when I was thinking why I was in that country it was worth it.
“Although my family and I are now back living in Christchurch I am going back to Afghanistan to assist technocrats following the election and continue my work in assisting Afghanistan building its first railway network of 6200km.
“According to the strategic plan of the new government this network will be the backbone for turning Afghanistan to a transportation hub linking China to the Middle East and Europe and linking central Asian states to southern Asian countries.
“As I enter a business career, based in Christchurch, I am grateful to the University of Canterbury and staff who have been fantastic for helping me achieve my goals.”
Source: Student completes thesis in Afghanistan, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 29 April 2015
Afghanistan’s railways
Kabul quarry railway plan
And we are going to put down twelve miles of railway to reach a marble quarry, where the Ameer is going to quarry marble to build a new Cabul with.
Frank H Clemence, in an interview with the Liverpool Post which is quoted in the article “A Cheshire man at Cabul” in the Cheshire Observer of Saturday 20 January 1894.
Does anyone know whether this railway was ever built?
Dutch railway engineer’s Afghan photos
The Dutch ambassador to Afghanistan tweets about a book by Khalil Wedad which includes photos by a Dutch railway engineer who worked in the country in the 1920s.
1/2 A century of Afghan history: book by Khalil Wedad with photo's from 1928 by Dutch railway engineer Adrianus Maas pic.twitter.com/GuMwSHp9ik
— Henk Jan Bakker (@HenkJanBakker3) April 1, 2015
2/2 Maas was invited by King Amanullah. Honored by presence of his daughter princess India. pic.twitter.com/X43mz2qwLQ
— Henk Jan Bakker (@HenkJanBakker3) April 1, 2015
President Ghani on railways
The President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, discussed the political and economic priorities of the Afghan government with Robert Rubin, co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations in the USA on 26 March 2015.
There were a number of mentions of railways, including:
Now in the next 25 years, Asia is going to become the largest continental economy. What happened in the United States in 1869 when the continental railroads were integrated is like—very likely to happen in Asia in the next 25 years. Without Afghanistan, central Asia, south Asia, east Asia and west Asia will not be connected, so this is our first advantage. We—our goal is to become a transit country, for transport, for power transmission, for gas pipelines, for fiber optics. It’s a networked approach to the economy because this will create massive jobs and opportunities.
The constraint, of course, is lack of infrastructure. We have created the road network, but the railway network—we have only one of our cities linked to our neighboring country, which is with Uzebekistan. But now, our attempt is to get linked to China and to all our neighbors. So this is the first step.
There is a mention of the Chinese copper mine project needing a railway: “Without rail, there is no possibility of creating the economies of scale.”
Our first great law (ph) in terms of transit is coming by Central Asia to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. In three years, we hope to be reaching Europe within five days. So, Caspian is really becoming simple to our—our economy. And in three years, we could have 70 percent of our imports and exports by the Caspian.
Operations and maintenance contract signed
The Afghanistan Railway Authority (AfRA) executed and officially singed a new Operation and Maintenance (O&M)
The Afghanistan Railway Authority (AfRA) executed and officially singed a new Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Contract for the Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif railway line on 15th of March 2015, with the Operator “SE Sogdiana Trans” of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This new contract is called MOMTC (expires on 4 December 2017) and will provide the following four services: Management, Operation & Infrastructure Maintenance of the line and will provide a comprehensive, theoretical and practical Training for the AfRA’s personnel.
Hairatan on the border with Uzbekistan serves as gateway for half of Afghanistan’s external trade, while Mazar-e-Sharif is Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city and major trading center in the north. The construction of this railway line of 75Km was completed in 2011 and since then the operation and maintenance work has been going on. During each operation year, about 2.5 million tons of goods were transported on the Hairatan – Mazar-e-Sharif railway line, strengthening the local economy, increasing regional trade, promoting regional cooperation, and helping Afghanistan begin to redefine its role in the region.
The Hairatan – Mazar-e-Sharif railway line has brought positive economic effects since it was built. The lower transport cost have reduced the price of goods and have resulted in higher quality goods coming into the country. More than 7 million people have benefited from this line through jobs and increased trade. This has included freight operators, traders, businesses, and the local communities.
Having an efficient, safe, and reliable railway transport network operating in northern Afghanistan has shown an overall employment growth of over 10% per year since 2010. About 1,200 people are currently employed in logistics and unloading operations, while more jobs are expected to merge in logistics services at railroad stations.
This railway line forms part of the Transport Corridors 3 & 6 of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC), connecting the Central Asia to the South Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East. At a later stage, this railway network will be extended to Herat in the West via Sheberghan – Andkhoy – Aqina with connection to Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in the east via Kunduz – Sherkhan Bandar, which is part of another project called (Northern Afghanistan Railway Project).
Source: Afghanistan Railway Authority, 24 March 2015
Uzbek Railways awarded new Afghan operations and maintenance contract
Last year the Afghanistan Railway Authority invited expressions of interest in contracts to operate and maintain the 75 km railway from Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif.
On 15 March 20151 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works awarded Uzbek national railway UTY a new contract to operate and maintain the line.2
This contract replaces the original 2011 operating contract, which was worth worth $32m/year. On 8 February 2011 UTY established its Sogdiana Trans subsidiary to undertake operations and maintenance in Afghanistan.3
The latest contract runs for three years and will see UTY paid $19m/year to manage the line. UTY will pay taxes, and is to provide training for 50 Afghans each year. Until now the railway has only been used for imports, but the new contract should see the line used to carry a total of at least four million tonnes of Afghan goods for export.
- Upkeep matters: Afghanistan, Uzbekistan renew railway project agreement, Afghanistan Times, 15 March 2015 ↩
- Uzbekistan extends contract on railway maintenance in Afghanistan, Demir Azizov, Trend, 21 March 2015 ↩
- История проекта Sogdiana Trans ↩
EU grant for the Afghanistan Railway Authority
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved the administration of a European Union (EU) grant for the Transport Network Development Investment Program. The EU grant will help upgrade the Afghanistan Railway Authority and support efficiency improvements for traffic moving along CAREC Corridors 5 and 6 in Afghanistan, and across key cross border points as part of the fourth tranche of financing for the program. The program, which was approved in 2011, is supporting infrastructure upgrades and improved sector governance to strengthen access to domestic and international markets, which in turn will support increased trade, job creation and economic growth.
Amount
$109 million grant from ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund. Cofinancing grant of up to $21 million equivalent from the EU, administered by ADB.Source: Afghanistan – Transport Network Program Administration of Grant New Briefs, Asian Development Bank, 12 December 2014
Five countries sign China to Iran railway agreement
A preliminary agreement for developing the proposed China – Kyrgyzstan – Tajikistan – Afghanistan – Iran railway was signed in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on 8-9 December 2014.1
The meeting was chaired by Tajikistan’s First Deputy Minister of Transport, Sherali Gançalzoda, and included representatives of the transport ministries and authorities of the five countries. The attendees were updated on the current state of the railways, development plans, and the steps needed to connect the rail networks.
The Ministry of Transport statement doesn’t give much background (and is Tajik), but media reports say the route of the proposed line was agreed. Some reports seem to have got the list of places to be served a bit backwards, but they suggest the line would run from Kashgar in China to Herat in Afghanistan, then run on to Iran – presumably using the Khaf to Herat line which is currently under construction.2
Launched the protocol of joining the 2100km railroad construction from China-Kyrgyz-Tajik-Iran through Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/Hs2wF5wRKd
— Wahid Waissi (@WahidWaissi) December 17, 2014
Asia Plus reports that Iranian company Metra has previously carried out a feasibility study for construction of the 392 km Tajik section of the proposed railway, using US$1m of aid.3 4
There is no mention of gauge in any of the reports. The former Soviet countries and the small amount of railway in Afghanistan use 1520 mm broad gauge, but Iran and China both use standard gauge, and China seems to like building railways to standard gauge even in metre/1067 mm gauge regions of Africa. There is also no mention of a commitment to funding.
Update: Wahid Waissi, Director-General of Economic Cooperation at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirms “it would be 1435 but two months time given for Kyrgyz to decide.”5
Last month the presidents of Tajikistan and China met and discussed “the prospects of construction of railway China-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran-Persian Gulf”,6 and the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan and Export-Import Bank of China signed an agreement on preferential credit for construction of the 40.7 km Vahdat – Yovon section of the Dushanbe – Qurghonteppa line by 2016. 7
- Ба имзорасии Протокол оид ба масъалаи пайтвастшавии роҳҳои оҳани Хитой – Қирғизистон – Тоҷикистон – Афғонистон – Эрон, Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tajikistan, 9 December 2014 ↩
- Document on linking China’s railway to Iran signed in Dushanbe, Xinhua, 10 December 2014 ↩
- Document on defining rail route China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan signed in Dushanbe, Payrav Chorshanbiyev, Asia Plus, 10 December 2014 ↩
- Iranian company submits primary reports on Tajik stretch of Kashgar-Heart railway to MoT, Payrav Chorshanbiyev, Asia Plus, 24 July 2012 ↩
- @WahidWaissi on Twitter, 22:55 17 December 2014 ↩
- President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon met with President of China Xi Jinping, Press service of President of Republic of Tajikistan, 7 November 2014 ↩
- Meeting with Chairman of Board of Directors of China Railway Construction Corporation Zhang Zongyan, Press service of President of Republic of Tajikistan, 7 November 2014 ↩
India, Iran and the port of Chabahar
Indian authorities initially planned to build a railway line from Chabahar to Zaranj, an Afghan town about 880 km away, so as to link up with the Zaranj-Delaram highway built by the Indians in Afghanistan. Once the [Indian] Railway Ministry got into the act, it assigned its external development wing, the RITES, to do a feasibility study of the project. A team of RITES came up with the findings that it would cost roughly a million dollar per km to lay the railway line and to make it economically viable, the railways would have to carry at least a million tonnes of cargo per month. The fact that the present port facility in Chabahar was not even off-loading 2 million tonnes of cargo per year and that it could take almost a decade more to reach the required tonnage for the Indian railways made the entire project unviable, even if the Indian government agreed to spend about $850 million to lay the railway track. So the project was almost shelved.[more…]
Source: India, Iran And The Story Of Chabahar, by Ravi Joshi, Observer Research Foundation, Eurasia Review, 27 October 2014.
Northern Afghanistan railway feasibility study scope extended
Appleton & CANARAIL announce extension of Scope of Work for the Afghanistan Railway Feasibility Study for Northern Afghanistan
Appleton Consulting Incorporated (ACI) is proud to announce, in concert with its partner CANARAIL, the extension of the Scope of Work for the Afghanistan Railway Feasibility Study for Northern Afghanistan from 300kms to approximately 700kms. Awarded in December, 2013 to ACI and CANARAIL, the funding for this project is from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and serves as part of a larger Central Asian regional transportation network that encompasses ten countries in the region and is intended to enhance large scale commercial market activity.
The Project will be implemented in two phases :
Phase One: The railway line will connect Kholm to Aqina at the Turkmenistan border via Sheberghan and Andkhoy; and
Phase Two: The railway will connect Kholm to Sherkhan Bandar at the Tajikistan border via Kunduz.This is the first railway project to be managed by the Afghanistan Railway Authority (AFRA) established in 2012 for the development of more than 3000kms of railway in Afghanistan. The railway alignment is part of a major corridor in the country intended to serve the emerging mineral, oil and gas sector.
The major stakeholders in this project include the Ministry of Public Works; the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum; the Ministry of Transport; the Ministry of Agriculture and various other national and regional organizations.
Source: Appleton Consulting, 5 November 2014
Their website has a basic map of the route.