The gigantic logistics-commercial center of Manas, in the town of Leninskoe, which the Chinese are building not far from Bishkek, is destined to become a key axis (and alternative to the Russian route) for trade between East and West. The Kyrgyz Prime Minister, Žaparov, has already baptized it as the “great seaport” of a landlocked country.
Bishkek () – China intervenes increasingly widely and actively in Kyrgyzstan, carrying out numerous infrastructure projects, no longer fearing competition from Russia, as documented by several local and international websites. The construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway line, entrusted to the joint venture «Kyrgyz-Chinese Investment Holding Company», is expected to begin soon, following Biškek’s promises to start work as early as last October, to open one of the main sections of the Middle Corridor as an alternative to the Northern Corridor of Russia and Kazakhstan, and the South Asia Corridor.
At the same time, other projects worth billions of dollars have already been underway for years in Kyrgyzstan, largely financed by Chinese capital. Already in 2007, a Swedish consulting firm had stated that Kyrgyzstan “is the most convenient country for Santa Claus”, by virtue of its centrality on the world map, to bring gifts around the world, also given “the amount of money that comes into torrents in this country. The problem is that Santa Claus can travel through the air in a flying reindeer sleigh, while the problem in Kyrgyzstan continues to be that of land transportation, still very deficient between mountainous routes, roads full of potholes and lack of bridges.
These limitations have not stopped the Chinese, who see in the south of the Tatar-Mongol country an effective alternative to Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan, with which there is no shortage of joint development projects. The trans-Eurasian railway requires an investment of several billion dollars, and could really change the dynamics of trade between East and West, reducing the delivery time of Chinese shipments to Europe by at least a week.
The most symbolic project, already underway, is the gigantic logistics-commercial center of Manas, in the town of Leninskoe, not far from Bishkek, under the responsibility of the Hunan Construction Investment Group (Hcig), whose first phase of construction has begun for 700 million dollars, a figure that will rise to at least 4,000 million. Spread over 700 hectares, it includes storage, logistics, sales and commerce areas. It is almost certain that a major station of the new railway will be located here, although the currently approved plan does not provide for this, since Leninskoe is on the side of the border with Kazakhstan, and not towards the mountainous areas that have to be crossed.
On October 17, on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the future railway, China’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Du Dewen, praised Kyrgyzstan as a “union country”, important not only for Central Asia, but for the entire continent. and Europe. The diplomat confirmed that the commercial axis is also important for rail transport, along which other markets, warehouses and logistics centers will be located. In fact, 49 other similar projects are being discussed, in addition to Manas, which is named after the mythical hero of Kyrgyzstan.
Prime Minister Akylbek Žaparov has compared the center to a “large seaport”: although Kyrgyzstan does not have access to the sea, and although trade with the Chinese around the world is carried out by more than 25% by sea, this project will in fact give the Kyrgyz access to the waters. This will allow a great development of agriculture, industry, mineral extraction and the use of new technologies. The Manas will thus offer valuable competition to the other “land port”, that of Khorgos, a large Chinese center located on the border between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan, a reference point of the “Northern corridor.”
Russia helplessly watches Chinese expansion in these territories, as an inevitable condition of Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and this line of development now seems unstoppable, whatever the future prospects for geopolitical balance.
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