The Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund allocated a loan worth $280 million to Uzbekistan Railways for the construction of the Angren-Pap railway line, the local press reports.

The loan will be spent on the purchase of necessary machinery and equipment and the mining and construction operations as part of the project. Uzbekistan started construction of the Angren-Pap new electrified railway in summer 2013.

It was reported that the Angren-Pap railway line worth $1.9 billion, with a length of 129 km should run through the Kamchik pass and link the three oblasts in the east of the country - Andijan, Namangan and Fergana - with the remaining part of Uzbekistan. The project envisages the construction of two tunnels.

The project worth $1.9 billion will be financed at the expense of the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund, the state budget, Uzbek railway company's own funds and loans of the international financial institutes worth $1 billion.

Chinese Eximbank delivered a loan worth $350 million for the laying of the tunnel for the new line in November 2013. The China Railway Tunnel Group and Uzbekistan Railways signed a contract to construct a tunnel worth $455 million through the Kamchik pass in September 2013. The Chinese company must build a 19-kilometer train tunnel by mid- 2016 in accordance with the contract. The Kamchik pass is on the Kurama Range at 1,200 meters above a sea level.

Source*trend.az