Economic
News relating to
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China and Kazakhstan have established new second cross-border rail link
-
important implication for business, commerce, economic development,
tourism and business travel between China, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and
Europe
New rail link at
Korgas Pass
China and Kazakhstan opened a new second cross-border rail link at
Korgas Pass, Khorgos 霍爾果斯 a few days ago on 22.12.2012. The rail
link includes a 292km section in China and a 293km section in
Kazakhstan (Zhetygen - Altynkol). The Chinese section is reported
to cost RMB 6 billion (US$962 million) to build. It is estimated
that the new rail link will turn Korgas Pass in Xinjiang Uygur
autonomous region into a key logistics hub for bustling regional trade,
which has been growing at 30% per annum to reach US$17 billion last
year and reportedly US$25 billion this year. It is expected that
Korgas will handle 20-23 million tonnes of cargo a year by 2020 and
35-38 million tonnes a year by 2030, compared with 15 million tonnes
handled by the previous only rail link at Alataw trade pass -
Dostyk (Kazakhstan) and Alashankow 阿拉山口(China). The new rail link
is part of a strategic plan to enhance the China-Kazakhstan
interconnection by rail, to link with a trans-continental highway
transport route that connects China with Europe, and as part of the New
Eurasia Land Bridge, a new rail link between the Asian and European
continents. China and Europe use standard gauge for their rail
systems, while Kazakhstan previously used the wider gauge based on
Russian rail system. A new Trans-Kazakhstan Trunk Railways
project was proposed in 2004 to eliminate the gauge difference
problem. The rail connection between Almaty (Kazakhstan) and
Khorgos (China) completes the New Eurasia Land Bridge linking China to
Europe.
Goods from Central Asia can now be transported all the way east
to China's eastern seaport of Liangyunguang 连云港in Jiangsu Province
江苏省for shipping export and vice versa.
Korgas Pass 霍爾果斯 is 200 Km from
the Kazakhstan capital Astana and 670 km from Urumqi 乌鲁木齐, the
provincial capital of Xinjiang Province 新疆省会 of China. A
China-Kazakhstan free trade centre, named International Centre for
Boundary Cooperation ICBC "Khorgos" and first of its kind in Eurasia,
was opened at Korgas last year. Trade promotional policies such
as large tax concession for exports, permission to carry duty-free
products, and long stay of 30 days at the centre for citizens of China,
Kazakhstan and third party countries are applied at Korgas Pass.
The Free Trade Centre serves to reduce barriers and facilitate
bilateral trade. It taps into 60 million potential customers in
the region. With a network of new and existing highways, railways
and oil pipelines, Korgas Pass has become an important logistics hub in
Central Asia.
Link to video
news about the new second cross-border rail link between China and
Kazakhstan at Korgas Pass
China builds Second Eurasian Land
Bridge
The following is extracted from an article by F. William Engdahl on
www.globalresearch.ca dated 27.4.2012 titled "EURASIAN ECONOMIC BOOM
AND GEOPOLITICS: China’s Land Bridge to Europe: The China-Turkey High
Speed Railway“ which provides context information for the significance
of the new second cross border rail link between China and Kazakhstan.
"By 2011 China had completed a Second Eurasian Land Bridge running from
China’s port of Lianyungang on the East China Sea through to
Kazakhstan’s Druzhba and on to Central Asia, West Asia and Europe to
various European destinations and finally to Rotterdam Port of Holland
on the Atlantic coast.
The Second Eurasian Land Bridge is a new railway connecting the Pacific
and the Atlantic that was completed by China to Druzhba in Kazakhstan.
This newest Eurasia land bridge extends west in China through six
provinces–Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang
autonomous region, which neighbors respectively with Shandong Province,
Shanxi Province, Hubei Province, Sichuan Province, Qinghai Province,
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia. That covers about
360,000 square kilometers, some 37% of the total land space of China.
About 400 million people live in the areas, which accounts for 30% of
the total population of the country. Outside of China, the land bridge
covers over 40 countries and regions in both Asia and Europe, and is
particularly important for the countries in Central and West Asia that
don’t have sea outlets.
In 2011 China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan announced plans to build a new
high-speed railway link within Kazakhstan, linking the cities of Astana
and Almaty, to be ready in 2015. The Astana-Almaty line, with a
total length of 1050 kilometers, employing China’s advanced
rail-building technology, will allow high-speed trains to run at a
speed of 350 kilometers per hour......
The Second Eurasian Land Bridge runs 10,900 kilometers in length, with
some 4100 kilometers of that in China. Within China the line runs
parallel to one of the ancient routes of the Silk Road. The rail line
continues across China into Druzhba where it links with the broader
gauge rail lines of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the largest inland
country in the world. As Chinese rail and highways have expanded west,
trade between Kazakhstan and China has been booming. From January to
October 2008, goods passing through the Khorgos port between the two
nations reached 880,000 tons – over 250% growth compared with the same
period a year before. Trade between China and Kazakhstan is expected to
grow 3 to 5 fold by 2013. As of 2008, only about 1% of the goods
shipped from Asia to Europe were delivered by overland routes, meaning
the room for expansion is considerable. From Kazakhstan the lines
go on via Russia and Belarus over Poland to the markets of the European
Union."
Link to the full article "EURASIAN
ECONOMIC BOOM AND GEOPOLITICS: China’s Land Bridge to Europe"
Rail
Routes Map from Ansher Global
Implication for business
The opening of the second cross-border rail link between China and
Kazakhstan means that the New Eurasian Land Bridge rail link passing
through Kazakhstan connecting China and Europe over land is
realized. This should have a significant beneficial effect on
business and investment along the route. Investors, developers,
architects,
engineers, contractors, suppliers should see new business opportunities
due to the opening of this route. The bottleneck at the previous
only rail link between China and Kazakhstan is lifted and trade (both
bilateral & transit) volume between the two countries will be
increased dramatically. It has been predicted that the economic
boom in Central Asia, which has just begun, will go on for a long time
into the distant future. The significance of this
alternative shorter route for movement of goods between East Asia and
Europe,
and potentially extending to the East coast of North America over the
Atlantic, cannot be underestimated.
Fabian Chan
Source: HKEJ,
China CNR, Tengrinews, Wikipedia, GlobalResearch, Ansher - 26.12.2012
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