Turkmenistan : North-South Railway Project

Transport / Rail transport (non-urban)

The Government of Turkmenistan signed a multilateral agreement in October 2007, with Kazakhstan and Iran to construct new railway tracks to develop the North-South railway corridor. This is the region's key route for transporting bulky goods, such as oil and oil products, mineral resources, agricultural products and textiles.

The North-South railway corridor will improve the accessibility of Turkmenistan to the central areas of Kazakhstan, Iran, the Persian Gulf countries, Russia, and the Southern and South East Asia; facilitate the movement of goods; and increase transit growth of the country and the development of an integrated, efficient railway system in the region.

Safe and efficient movement of trains with the installation of signaling, power, and telecommunications systems between Chilmammet and Buzkhun (288.2 km)

Tracks are well maintained and kept safe

Support provided for the project management and MRT's institutional capacity improvement

Contract was awarded on 28 May 2012 to the Consortium of ASPMK-519 Limited Liability Partnership (KAZ) and KEC International Limited (IND). Contract completion date was originally set to 17 January 2014. The completion date of the project was 21 January 2016, and the operational acceptance certificate was issued on 28 July 2016.

First training workshop was conducted by the PMC on project accounting and financial management from 14 to 18 May 2012. On capacity building and on-the-job training assistance, the following activities have been completed: (i) training of 10 MRT staff and mechanical technicians in Austria on track maintenance machinery (10 days); (ii) training in Ashgabat of 5 MRT inspectors of track maintenance machinery on inspection scope and procedures at manufacturer's plant prior to their departure to Austria (2 days); (iii) training of 5 MRT accounting and finance department employees on modern accounting procedures and financial control/reporting requirements (5 days); (iv) training of MRT management and mid-level staff on turnkey works contract and goods procurement contract conditions and procedures (3 days); (v) on-the-job training to 2 staff from accounting and finance department on contract requirements and preparation of financial documents for submission to ADB.

Two consultative meetings were held in Bereket and at station 300+00 along the alignment in July 2010. One was a formal consultative meeting with some of the construction works and the other an informal meeting with locally hired employees supporting construction works. In addition, some informal individual discussions and conversations were held with residents in one of the herding communities along the railway alignment. All were supportive of the project as they expect the railway to have positive impacts on their lives through increased economic activityand better access to social services.

Level of consultation and participation was made through information sharing.

Since the project covers signaling and communication system installation as well as procurement of equipment, there will be only information sharing.

The procurement of goods was undertaken in accordance with ADB's Procurement Guidelines (2010, as amended from time to time). Limited International Bidding has been followed for TCP-1 due to reduced scope. National competitive bidding is not applicable. Two contract packages were awarded: TCP-1 (design, supply, and installation of power supply, signaling and telecom); and TCP-2 (supply of track machinery and supply and installation of safety equipment).

Turnkey Contract for design, supply, installation, and commissioning of power supply, Signaling, telecommunications equipments (Contract TKM/ADB/TCP1): On 28 May 2012, MRT awarded the contract to the Consortium of ASPMK-519 Limited Liability Partnership and KEC International Limited (ASPMK+KEC) at the evaluated bid price of $104,782,927(excluding VAT).

Supply of Track Maintenance Machinery (Contract TKM/ADB/TCP2): MRT awarded the contract to the substantially responsive bidder M/s Plasser and Theurer Export von Bahnbaumaschinen Gesellchaft m.b.H. (Austria) on 13 April, 2012. Contract was registered on 25 April 2012 and declared effective on 8 May 2012. All the equipment under TCP-2 contract arrived in Ashgabat on 8 October 2012, installation was completed on 4 Nov. 2012, and the equipment was formally handed over to MRT on 7 Nov. 2012, six weeks ahead of the original schedule of 13 January 2013. Their contract has been completed.