ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran (ISNA) – The Iranian section of the Khaf-Herat railway route will be completed in the next two months, the Iranian deputy Minister of Transport and Urban Development Abbas Khatibi announced.
In a trip to the Afghan western province of Herat on Monday, Khatibi said that 93 percent of the work on the Iranian portion of the railway route has been completed.
Meanwhile, Afghan railway officials in Herat said that the Afghan government will start work on the 4th phase of the Khaf-Herat railway project within the next ten days. The 4th phase of the project is to lay the track from Ghoryan district of Herat towards the Herat airport.
Referring to the economic significance of the project, officials of Herat Chamber of Commerce and Industries have said that the implementation of the project will help to further expand exports and imports relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Afghanistan.
“We are very optimistic we will complete this project within the next one or two months and ensure that the project becomes operational 100 percent during this period,” Khatibi told reporters in Herat on Monday.
“In the 4th phase, 40 percent of the work will be focused on the geotechnical portion and surveying of the project,” said Sayed Aqa Azizi, the head of the Herat Railway Directorate. Work is ongoing by a Kazakh company hired for the project, said Azizi.
Khaf-Herat railway will be 130 km long, of which 70 km is inside Iran soil and 60 km is inside Afghanistan. With the completion of this project, Afghanistan can take advantage of a railway for the first time that provides access to Turkey and Europe with Iran ports in the Persian Gulf.
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