The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway will be a major stepping stone for Eurasian transport. The government of Kyrgyzstan recently reclassified over 44 hectares of land to make it suitable for the construction of the new line.
The 44.29 hectares area is near Jalal-Abad, near the Kyrgyz border with Uzbekistan. Most of it (36.55 hectares) is irrigated arable land, 7.54 hectares of dry land and 0.2 hectares of swap. The Jalal-Abad City Hall has now been tasked with changing the status of this land to enable the railway construction.
The CKU railway
The CKU rail line will stretch for over 450 kilometres, from Kashgar, in China, through the Torugart Pass on the China-Kyrgyzstan border to Andijan, in eastern Uzbekistan. Construction of the new infrastructure reportedly commenced in October, with the three countries involved establishing a joint venture.
However, one question mark remains concerning the costs of such a project, with estimations swinging between 4.7 and eight billion US dollars. What is known is that China will be the one doing the heavy (financial) lifting, with 51 per cent of the funding coming from Beijing. The rest will be equally split between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.