AKIPRESS.COM - Afghanistan signed a contract to manage the Hairatan-Mazar-e-Sharif railway with a Kazakhstani company called Mansour Fatih, ToloNews reported.

The company will manage technical issues for the railway.

"We pay this company (more than) $4.1 million annually. We were paying $15 million to the Sogdiana Trans, and the Sogdiana Trans company from Uzbekistan was only providing us service for 22 kilometers, only in Hairatan port. This new company will provide service for 106 kilometers," acting head of the Afghanistan railway authority Bakht Rahman Sharafat said.

Deputy head of the Fatih Company Bisn Bai Makhanov said that they would increase the number of employees based on capacity. He noted that the contract was earned through bidding.

Afghanistan is connected via the Hairatan-Aqina and Khwaf-Herat railways to the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as well as to Iran.

Afghanistan is also considered a trade hub between South Asia and Central Asia.