Uzbekistan : Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Corridor 2 (Bukhara-Miskin-Urgench-Khiva) Railway Electrification Project

Transport / Rail transport (non-urban)

By doing so, the project will fundamentally change the economic geography of Khorezm, by shrinking the temporal distance to other urbanized areas of Uzbekistan. High-speed trains will reduce travel times between Urgench and Bukhara to 2 hours, compared to the current 6 by road. The total journey from Urgench to Tashkent will be made possible in approximately 6 hours, well within a daily commute. With such improvements, a number of impacts will be felt. Industrial development in Khorezm will be spurred in favor of higher value-added sectors such as tourism. The development of tourism is expected to come with several multiplier effects, as many locals including women will increasingly be employed in the tourism industry. Traditional sectors of agriculture and manufacturing will also increase in their value proposition. For example, higher value agricultural produce will be able to be exported faster and farther through the use of refrigerated wagons. The local population, including women and children will have improved access to safer transport, supported by gender-inclusive facilities in trains and at modernized stations already in place. The project will significantly increase the accessibility of the population of Khorezm to jobs, markets, healthcare and education facilities within the region and in other parts of the country. With the tourism sector in Uzbekistan already being the seventh fastest growing in the world with 13.4 percent growth in 2018, there is a large potential for the project to contribute to a tourism-led development in western Uzbekistan. For this reason, the second output of the project has the objective to develop a Tourism Economic Corridor in Western Uzbekistan, contributing to local inclusive economic activity in municipalities along the corridor. Besides high-speed and quality passenger transport, the project will also contribute to improvements in freight rail services. Freight will consist of domestic, export, import and transit traffic, which is projected by O'zbekiston Temir Yo'llari (UTY) to reach a total of 12 million tons per annum by 2023 on the section between Bukhara and Miskin

Sustainable regional trade and economic activity promoted along CAREC Corridor 2

Improved railway services for freight and passengers in Western Uzbekistan

Railway infrastructure along the Bukhara-Miskin-Urgench-Khiva line upgraded

Tourism corridor Bukhara-Miskin-Urgenc-Khiva developed