GROZNY: As Chechnya struggles to repair the damage to its infrastructure caused by a decade of conflict, there may be more than ravages of war to overcome as rampant theft of public property, including railway lines, threatens restoration efforts.

The main line connecting the Chechen capital Grozny to the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia has proved a particularly tempting morsel for thieves who have made off with all but four kms of its 60kms length of steel track.

Despite the best efforts of local residents who, desperate to save the railways, appealed to local authorities to prevent the regular theft and organized night watches to guard the threatened rails, too many people have found the meagre earnings to be made from selling rails sufficient to overcome their consciences.

“We can get 400 rubles ($15) a ton for anything we sell on the spot, but we have to pay 100 out of that to have the rails cut up so the pieces can fit into a car,” 28-year-old Aslambek confided.

“It’s pretty hard work,” 22-year-old Isa said. “For every 40 centimetres (16 inches) of rail we have to unscrew eight bolts.”

It was not only the hard work that was the bane of a rail thief’s life, he added.

“Three days ago some soldiers came and took our passports away. The next day we had to pay 300 rubles each to get them back. It’s dangerous to have no documents,” he said.

Once transported to Grozny, a ton of steel rails can bring in up to 800 rubles, and drivers ferrying the booty to southern Russia’s ports of Novorossiisk and Rostov-on-Don net even higher profits.

“Usually we make two trips a month. Our papers are in order, and we have a guide with us whose job it is to get us safely through. On a trip we can make up to 15,000 rubles, and that’s good money,” 29-year-old Hussein said.

In some places where local authorities appeared inclined to turn a blind eye to what for some has become a profitable enterprise, villagers have proved ready to take the initiative in doing whatever is necessary to maintain the integrity of the local line.

Near the village of Alkhan-Kala, southeast of Grozny, the stretch of line has remained intact thanks to groups of local people, young and old alike, who mounted a round-the-clock guard.

“A group of us who live on this street got together and decided to guard it for ourselves. Even if it is only two or so kilometres, we’re not going to allow anyone to destroy it, because without railways Chechnya won’t have a future,” Isa Shakhidov, 62, said.

The systematic theft of rail track began in early April and developed when it became clear that the public authorities lacked the means or the will to prevent it.

Petty theft also threatens recovery in one of Chechnya’s main areas of economic activity, oil refinery.—AFP