BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 25. President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov took part in the opening ceremony of the Balykchy–Kochkor railway and the Kochkor railway station in the Naryn Region.

The information was released by the press service of the President of Kyrgyzstan.

Japarov arrived at Kochkor station by train, personally inspecting the new railway route and assessing the quality of the completed construction work. He then toured the new station building and reviewed its infrastructure.

In his speech, President Japarov said the day would go down in the history of independent Kyrgyzstan as another important milestone.

"We have revived the culture of railway construction, our engineering potential, and our professional expertise. Our country is capable of independently implementing major infrastructure projects," the president stressed.

He also emphasized that the railway had been built entirely by Kyrgyzstan's own specialists.

"First of all, I would like to emphasize that we are building this railway with our own resources. During construction, nearly one million cubic meters of blasting work was carried out, and eight kilometers of mountainous terrain were cleared. The construction cost of the railway itself amounted to $955,000 per kilometer," Japarov said.

For comparison, he noted that foreign companies had proposed construction costs ranging from $4.8 million to $6.8 million per kilometer.

"Realizing that this was far too expensive, we decided to take the risk and, following the principle that 'the road is mastered by those who walk it,' we undertook the project ourselves.

Another comparison can be made with the alternative North–South highway. Under the Balykchy–Jalal-Abad project, which stretches for 433 kilometers, the cost was estimated at $2.5 million per kilometer.

Yet even at that price, the road has still not been completed or fully commissioned. It is obvious that more than half of that money was simply embezzled," Japarov stated.

The 63-kilometer Balykchy–Kochkor section is the first phase of the planned Balykchy–Kara-Keche–Makmal railway line.