Jiangxi Copper Group involved in the development of Afghanistan, Aina Ke Copper Project started
2009-7-15 Source: Dajiang Wang – Jiangxi Daily
July 10 Congjiang Copper Group was informed by the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Jiangxi Copper Corporation to jointly develop copper projects in Afghanistan Aina Ke, July 9 officially under construction.
It is understood that Aina Ke copper from the Afghan capital, Kabul, about 35 kilometers, is considered not yet developed the world’s second-largest copper mine. 7.05,1.56%,1100, The total amount of proven resources, the amount of 705 million tons of ore, with an average 1.56% copper, copper metal content of 11 million tons for the large copper deposit. 20086, In June 2008, China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Jiangxi Copper Group, the investment consortium composed of copper in the development of bid victory. ,50% The project put into operation, the output of not less than 50% of the copper concentrate products will be in accordance with international practice and the same international prices of copper sold to Jiang.
Source: Google translation of Chinese report at Jiangxi Copper Corporation
Projects
Not finished yet
An eyewitness report from a logistics company in Herat tells me the railway is “not finished yet”.
Herat railway operational?
I recently had an enquiry about the status of the project to build a railway from Iran to Herat – the e-mail came from from a novelist undertaking background research, which was a bit unusual, but potentially interesting.
The existing branch line to serve mines near Sangan is being extended from Khaf, crossing the Afghan border near Islam Qala to run to Herat. There have been various news reports about progress, although I have not yet found any conclusive evidence of work being underway, for instance any photographs showing earthworks.
As far as I am aware no opening has been announced, and given the strategic significance of this scheme I was reasonably sure that the Iranian authorities would have publicised it if it had been completed and opened.
However, Thomas Hammes, a senior military fellow at the US National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies, mentions the Herat railway as being functional in an NPR programme.
Can anyone confirm (or deny) this? Does anyone have any firm evidence of the line been complete (or even underway)?
Military Thinkers Answer Listeners’ Questions
What about Iran? Iran is in the formula. Its border with Afghanistan is rife with drug traffic. I understand from news sources in the U.S. that I read or listen to that almost all the drugs go across Iran before being distributed to Europe and the U.S.
Sally Williams
Berkeley, Calif.THOMAS HAMMES: Sally, you are correct. Iran is in the formula and must be part of the solution. During our initial invasion in 2001, the Iranians provided assistance against the Taliban. Since then, our relationship with Iran has deteriorated and their willingness to cooperate has, too. However, they have assisted the development of western Afghanistan.
The only functioning railroad in Afghanistan comes in from Iran to Herat. They have improved the roads, access to markets and provided reconstruction aid. They feel these actions are in their best interest. At the same time, they feel supporting some of the anti-government groups is also in their best interest.
Source: Military Thinkers Answer Listeners’ Questions, NPR, 2009-10-11
Afghan futures
Global Brief, 2009-11-01: Peering, head above the parapet, into Afghanistan’s next 10 years.
The Islamabad conference focussed on rail projects – extending Pakistani lines from Quetta and Peshawar to Kandahar and Jalalabad inside Afghanistan, then linking them onwards via a railway shadowing the ring road highway to lines now approaching completion in Herat and contemplated for Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif.
Bloomberg on Hayratan – Mazar-i-Sharif railway project
Bloomberg quotes me in Afghanistan’s First Railroad Aims to Undercut Taliban, which looks at the issues around the project to extend the Hayratan railway to Mazar-i-Sharif.
Note there are actually three locomotives from the Kabul – Darulaman railway!
ADB grants funds for Mazar-i-Sharif railway
Exciting news from the Asian Development Bank today. Uzbekistan’s national railway UTY is to be awarded contracts to build a 75 km line from the Hayratan freight terminal to Mazar-i-Sharif by June 2011.
ADB is providing a USD165m grant towards the USD170m cost, with the Afghan government paying the remaining USD5m. Normal tendering procedures are being relaxed as UTY is the only organisation in a position to build and operate the line. As it will be in effect an extension of the Uzbek rail network, the line will be to 1520 mm gauge.
“Security remains an ongoing concern”, but “the project area is deemed relatively safe”.
ADB-Funded Railway to Help Afghanistan Improve Regional Links, Boost Growth
30 September 2009
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Afghanistan’s push to develop reliable, safer, sustainable transport systems that boost growth, and increase connectivity with neighboring countries are getting support from a $165 million Asian Development Bank (ADB) grant.
The funds will be used to build a 75 kilometer single line railway between Hairatan – a northern town at the border with Uzbekistan that is the gateway for almost half of Afghanistan’s imports and much of its humanitarian relief goods – and Mazar-e-Sharif, the second largest city in the country. The project will also upgrade Hairatan station yard, build a transshipment terminal and provide institutional support to develop a railway sector plan.
Afghanistan has the potential to play a key role as a transit route in Central Asia for goods going to ports in Pakistan and the Caspian, and onwards to South and East Asia, the Middle East and Europe. However, trade volumes are heavily constrained by weak transport systems. In the case of Hairatan, freight railed from inside Uzbekistan stops at the border and then has to be offloaded and reloaded into trucks, causing delays and raising costs.
“This line will boost freight volumes, lower costs, raise the profile of Afghanistan as a transit route, and complement two major transport corridors being developed under the Central Asia Regional Cooperation Program (CAREC),” said Balabhaskara Reddy Bathula, Transport Specialist with ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. The project is the first phase of a larger rail network planned for the country, including links to Herat, Tajikistan and Pakistan and is part of CAREC’s broad push to improve connectivity throughout the region, supporting growth and cutting poverty.
Security remains an ongoing concern in Afghanistan and while the project area is deemed relatively safe, the Government has pledged to provide all necessary security support. The project will also bring environmental benefits with double-stack containers helping increase fuel efficiency.
To overcome past problems linked to transport projects, such as cost overruns and delays, the Government will be entering into direct contracts with Uzbekistan Railways Company, both for the engineering, procurement and construction of the new facilities, and for their operation and maintenance. The decision to relax normal procurement procedures is justified by the fact that the new railway will be a de-facto extension of the company’s current line from Termez in Uzbekistan to Hairatan; it does not require investments in new rolling stock; there are no comparable companies in the region capable of designing, building, operating and maintaining a line based on the Uzbekistan system; and the company has proprietary preliminary designs, which accelerates project readiness, saving considerable time and costs.
ADB’s grant covers 97% of the total project cost of $170 million, with the Government contributing $5 million. The Ministry of Public Works will be the executing agency, with June 2011 the estimated completion date.
Source: Asian Development Bank, 2009-09-30
Long term development should include rail, security council told
West should redirect Afghanistan money to north, says UN aide
The west should redirect much of its aid money from the violent south of Afghanistan to long-term development projects in the more peaceful north, including a rail network, the head of the UN mission in the country believes.
Kai Eide, the secretary general’s special representative in Kabul, will tell the security council today that the US and its allies should focus efforts to support key development areas including agriculture, transport and unlocking Afghanistan’s vast untapped mineral wealth.
…
Eide said that General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of Nato forces, had talked about “making this country in terms of security forces. We need to think in terms of sustainability on the economic side. By building a railway network and expanding electricity lines we create the base for dramatic economic growth potential.”Source: The Guardian, 2009-09-28
Hayratan to Mazar-i-Sharif project details
Asian Development Bank has details of the Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif Railway Project. “Interesting to see it all in one place” says Michael G Erickson who spotted it.
The Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif railway link is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program. It fits with Transport Corridors 3 and 6, which connect Central Asia to South Asia and the region to the Caucasus and the Middle East. Although the road between Hairatan and Mazar-e-Sharif has been improved, it cannot meet national and regional traffic needs. A railway from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif will (i) improve links between Afghanistan and neighboring countries, as well as nearby seaports; and (ii) develop an integrated transport network that caters for different cargo.
The existing Uzbek railway network stops at the border town of Hairatan. This is a gateway to Afghanistan, but it has reached its full capacity (4,000 tons of cargo per month). The flow of goods from Central Asia to Afghanistan will increase from 25,000 tons to 40,000 tons per month over the next few years. To prevent bottlenecks at the border, the existing Uzbek railway at Hairatan needs to be extended into Afghanistan, in a first intervention, to Mazar-e-Sharif. At a later stage, the railway network will be extended to Herat in the west and Tajikistan in the east. The railway will service commercial and non-military cargo.
The project is a priority one for Afghanistan. It fits with its Railway Development Plan. It is closely linked to ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for 2009-2013, which identifies the construction and rehabilitation of national roads and railways as a priority. It is also consistent with the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy.
The infrastructure:
The Project outputs will be (i) around 80kms railway line from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif with support facilities including rail/road connections and terminals constructed; (ii) established signaling and management information system; (iii) productive use of available land and social safeguarded; (iv) safeguarded and protected environment along railway corridor; (vi) strengthened institutions and management capacity.
Source: Asian Development Bank
Meanwhile, New rail line between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan to serve strategic purpose, reports Central Asia Online:
The construction of the 67km-long line is included in a memorandum of understanding to expand trade and economic opportunities that was recently signed by Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Asian Development Bank.
A technical team from Uzbek Railway is scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan shortly to prepare for construction. The cost of the project is estimated to be US$120 million, an amount that will provided by the Asian Development Bank. Construction is tentatively slated to begin in December.
Source: Central Asia Online, 2009-08-29
China’s interest in Pakistan rail links
In an article at Asia Times Online, Syed Fazl-e-Haider writes about co-operation between China and Pakistan, including plans to extend the Khyber Pass line and build the Spin Boldak line. There is also discussion of a direct China – Pakistan railway.
Chinese shun Pakistan exodus
…
China has also shown interest in early laying a track between the Pakistan border town of Torkham and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, as the Chinese want to use the Pakistan Railways network to transport their goods and equipment for the development of copper mines and various other projects in Afghanistan. Separately, Pakistan Railways has completed a feasibility study for a rail section between Chaman, in Balochistan, and Kandahar in Afghanistan that is part of a proposed link across Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.
Source: Asia Times Online, 2009-09-11
€3bn needed for Herat – Mazar-i-Sharif railway
ECO Urged to Invest in Iran-Afghanistan Railway Project
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Behbahani called on the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to provide Afghanistan with 3 billion Euros in credit to accomplish a railway project linking the country to Iran.
“To finish Iran-Afghanistan railway project, ECO is needed to provide 3 billion Euros in credit for the construction of a 1,250 km-long railway segment between Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif (in Afghanistan),” Behbahani said in a ceremony to mark the arrival in Tehran of the first freight train ferrying cargo from Islamabad to Istanbul via Tehran.
[more]Source: Fars News Agency 2009-08-23