KABUL (SW) – Officials at the Afghanistan Railway Department say that works at the Mazar-e-Sharif-Herat-Kandahar railway project with an estimated lenght of 1468 km, which passes through nine provinces and 37 districts,would begin soon.
Abdul Sami Durrani, the spokesperson of the Afghanistan Railway Department, told Salam Watandar that so far about 10 domestic and foreign companies are interested in investing in the Mazar-e-Sharif-Herat-Kandahar railway project, which will connect East Asia to Iran, Turkey and European countries through Afghanistan.
He aadded “Because this project is long, for now its first phase will be built from Herat-Khaf to the airport with a length of 47 km and the other part in Andkhoi-Shabarghan with a length of 70 km would follow.”
At the same time, a number of economic experts welcome the start of this project and say that with its implementation, jobs will be provided to of citizens in Afghanistan and the price of commercial goods will be reduced.
“This project is vital for the economic system,” says Taj Mohammad Tehseh, an expert on economic issues. “To transfer goods from north to south and from south to west, it will connect three geographical points of Afghanistan, which will significantly reduce the price of consumables and commercial goods by 60%.”
Officials at the Afghanistan Railway Department say that in the past year, about 4.6 million metric tons of commercial goods have been transferred to the countries of the region by railway, which includes exports, imports and transit goods.
It should be mentioned that currently in Afghanistan, for the transportation of commercial goods, the railways junction of Turghandi in Herat, Aqina in Faryab, and Haritaan in Mazar-e-Sharif are operating as normal on a daily basis.
ENDS
