Extending 19.2 kilometers, the Qamchiq Tunnel is the longest tunnel in Uzbekistan and Central Asia. It's also a miracle in the history of tunnel building, known as "President Project No.1" in Belt and Road (BRI) cooperation.
Traveling from Fergana in eastern Uzbekistan to capital city Tashkent used to involve a long and arduous trip via neighboring country Tajikistan or a perilous mountainside drive. Now the journey only takes three hours, cutting short travel time by six hours.
The 19.2-km Qamchiq Tunnel is a critical section of the Angren-Pap railway line that connects Tashkent and Namangan in Uzbekistan. /CGTN
The construction was completed six months earlier than scheduled – a pace of work later dubbed “Chinese speed” by locals. A similar tunnel, the 57-km-long Gotthart Base tunnel in Switzerland, took 17 years to finish.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and then President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov jointly attend in Tashkent the opening of the Angren-Pap railway line via video link, June 22, 2016. /Xinhua
Then Uzbek President Islam Karimov highly commended the project and the Chinese workers in his 2016 New Year address and at a January cabinet meeting on the economic situation.