Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov has declared the start of the $8bn project to build the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railroad, but this is probably a case of critics only believing it when they see it as details of how the mega-investment is to be financed have yet to be announced. Also not announced are a construction start-date and the selected route the railway—which has been under discussion for 30 years or more—will take. Japarov on June 6 made a video address to the participants of a Beijing ceremony for the signing of an intergovernmental CKU project cooperation agreement betw…
