EU to invest 10 billion euros in Middle Corridor

The European Union is allocating 10 billion euros for the development of the so-called Middle Corridor. It has identified 33 infrastructure projects to be financed, among which are many rail projects. The EU hopes to create an alternative transport route that circumvents Russian infrastructure.

The currently allocated 10 billion euros will be spent on infrastructure projects to improve connectivity between Central Asia and Europe. It looks to transform the Middle Corridor, an infrastructure corridor that connects China to Europe through Central Asia, into an efficient multimodal transport route.

The EU has identified 33 hard infrastructure projects to be financed alongside 7 ‘soft’ connectivity projects, which include improvements in the legal, institutional and digital spheres. According to a study report, the EU identified northern, central and southern alternatives to the corridor. The central alternative has taken the EU’s preference as the most sustainable option, which leads to most infrastructure projects being centred around Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Infrastructure projects

Rail projects include a bypass of Almaty railway station, which will relieve the station of 40 per cent of freight traffic, an upgraded railway to the China-Kazakhstan border crossing and synchronized rail terminal upgrades on both sides of the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border.

Some of these projects are already ongoing and being financed. The European Investment Bank signed Memoranda of Understanding with the governments of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and the Development Bank of Kazakhstan. The memoranda guarantee loans worth 1,47 billion euros to the signatory Central Asian states.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development intends to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan totalling 1,5 billion euros. Besides railway upgrades, the European investment in the Middle Corridor will also expand port capacity in the Caspian Sea, enable fleet renewal and facilitate the expansion of rolling stock in the long term.