International Involvement in the Development of Transport in the
Ferghana Valley
The transport sector stands out as a high point of international involvement in the
Ferghana Valley. Regional and non-regional states, international organizations,
and international financial institutions have all participated in this development.
The very difficulty of the situation has turned it into a challenge. Not only is the
Ferghana Valley double-landlocked, it is divided into national enclaves,
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sur-
rounded by mountains, and with often very narrow mountain passes—Kamchik,
Rezak, Teo-Ashuu, Anzob, Shakhristan, and Khujand—providing entry and egress.
Notwithstanding this, the valley’s central position demands that it be reconnected
with China, Europe, Afghanistan, and the Indian sub-continent as it was centuries
ago. This is being accomplished thanks to the
United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), the United Nations
Special
Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), Central Asian Regional
Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program of the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
and the EU’s Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA).
The TRACECA project was conceived in the early 1990s, subsequently lan-
guished for many years, and is now being revived.
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The program of the European
Union aims to revive one of the Silk Road routes. All of the Central Asian states,
including the adjoining republics of the Ferghana Valley, participate in this project.
Stretching some 10,800 kilometers between China and Europe, it will serve the
Ferghana Valley mainly through spurs and connectors. More immediately relevant
is the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China highway launched in 1998 when the govern-
ments of China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan agreed to construct a 600 kilometer-
long road connecting Andijan, Osh, Sary-Tash, Irkeshtam, and Kashgar.
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The next
year China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed a protocol to
speedily construct a further link to Tashkent and thence to Turkmenbashi, Baku,
Poti, Batumi, and Constanta. The Government of Japan also took an interest in
this route, signing with China a joint declaration on creating a transcontinental
Asia-Europe link.
The significance of this transcontinental route is that it runs directly across the
Ferghana Valley from Osh to Tashkent. As such, it will compete with, supplement,
and be supplemented by more northerly east-west routes through Kazakhstan and
through Russia.
However, for the time being this project is far from a reality. The 258-kilometer
Kyrgyz section of the route to Kashgar is in poor condition and requires major
repairs and upgrading. The four passes along this route—Chigirchik (2,406 meters),
Taldyk (3,615 meters), Kurpaktor (3,541 meters), and Taunmurun (3,536 meters)—
386 BOBOKULOV
all require attention as well, especially during winter. Thanks to US$328 million
from the Asian Development Bank and lesser amounts of assistance from the
Islamic Development Bank and from China, it will be possible to complete all
these tasks.
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A particularly important feature of the project is the redevelopment
of the Kamchik and Rezak passes, completed in 2002, which greatly improve
the transport links between the Ferghana Valley and the rest of Uzbekistan.
That same year the Ferghana Valley benefited from the new China-Kyrgyzstan
border point at Irkeshtam, with a capacity of 300,000–500,000 tons of cargo
and 100,000–200,000 people annually. The opening of the road through Irke-
shtam reduced the distance between China and the Central Asian states by 700
kilometers and connected them with the Karakoram Highway that provides the
shortest way to Pakistan, the new Arabian Sea port at Gwadar, and the countries
of Southeast Asia.
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Still more ambitious is the new railroad being constructed from Andijan to Osh
and then to Irkeshtam and Kashgar, a length of 577 kilometers. Thanks to the further
connections from Kashgar to Urumchi, and from Andijan west to the Caspian, 25
million tons of freight will be able to pass through the Ferghana Valley annually.
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TRACECA has meanwhile carried out a technical study of a promising railroad
linking the Ferghana Valley to Kashgar via Bishkek.
Because these lines enable goods to pass from the Ferghana Valley to Kashgar,
they open a route via the Karakoram Highway to the south. Other routes heading
directly south from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to Afghanistan will have the same
result, and will open what may be an even faster alternative. The chairman of the
ADB, Jin Liqun, rightly observed that “Outlets to the sea will not only fulfill the
Central Asian states’ hope for economic diversification, but will turn the region
into a land bridge between East Asia, South Asia, Russia and Europe.”
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China is
the main supporter of railway construction projects, which it sees as essential to its
“Develop the West” strategy.
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Whether and how these ultimately will contribute
to stability in the volatile region of Xinjiang remain to be seen. Some observers,
fearing they could have the opposite effect, point to the impact of the newly opened
Urumchi-Kashgar on the Uyghur population as evidence for their view. What cannot
be doubted is that these projects will have a profound impact not only on Xinjiang
but on the Ferghana Valley.
A priority for Tajikistan is to develop transport links between Sughd province
in the Ferghana Valley and the rest of the country. The Khujand-Dushanbe road
will link both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf via
Afghanistan (Dushanbe-Termez, Dushanbe-Nizhnii Panj-Kunduz), and thence to
Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea. This route requires the surmounting of for-
midable natural barriers, which is being accomplished with financial assistance
from the United States, China, Iran, and the ADB. In the summer of 2007, a 672-
meter bridge, costing US$28 million, went into operation on the Panj River at the
Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. Built by the United States, it is the fourth bridge in
the area constructed with American technical assistance and funding. Tajikistan
THE FERGHANA VALLEY AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 387
is also building two tunnels through the Zarafshan Mountains, with financial as-
sistance from Iran and the ADB.
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The role of international financial institutions in building and rehabilitating
transport corridors has been significant. As noted above, the ADB designated this as
its special focus.
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Thanks to the CAREC transportation sector development initia-
tive, the World Bank and Islamic Development Bank were also heavily involved,
specifically in projects (rehabilitation of the Osh-Irkeshtam road, and construction
of the Osh-Batken-Isfara road)
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affecting the Ferghana Valley. Related to all these
is the upgrading of the Karakoram Highway and other automobile roads in Cen-
tral Asia in the framework of the “Asian Highway” project of the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
These many transport projects have attracted much foreign investment to the
region, and they promise to reap important economic, social, and security benefits.
Besides promoting trade within the region, they will connect or reconnect the Fer-
ghana Valley and Central Asia as a whole with three of the world’s most dynamic
economies, those of China, Europe, and India.
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