Quetta, Nov 08: Pakistani engineers have completed a preliminary survey for a planned 140 kilometer rail line to Afghanistan, officials said today. The rail line will connect the Pakistani border town of Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province to Afghanistan's southern provincial capital of Kandahar, they said.

A five-member team completed the survey last week ahead of a feasibility study expected to start later this month.

"It is a first step towards Pakistan's plan to link Gwader port with the Central Asian Republics via Afghanistan that will boost trade and business in the region," said Shafiqullah Khan, the chief coordinator for the Chaman-Kandahar railway line project.

Gwader port is being built with Chinese help on the Arabian Sea in Baluchistan.

Khan said that the feasibility report would be completed in nine months and the project could take another two and a half years to be completed


Bureau Report