DUSHANBE, October 20, 2008, Asia-Plus — Work on concreting arch of the Anzob Tunnel, linking the northern Sughd province and the central part of the country, will be finished on November 15, according to press service of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC).
Builders are currently engaged in concerting arch of the ventilation tunnel and it remains to concrete some 600 meters of the tunnel. Every day, builders are concreting more than 27 meters of the tunnel arch.
“By transport minister’s order five additional teams were set up last week to speed up work in the Anzob Tunnel,” the source at a MoTC said, noting that the work is scheduled to be finished on November 15.
As it had been reported earlier, the Istiqlol Tunnel, better known as the Anzob Tunnel, has still been closed for traffic since September 12.
The tunnel, 5.5 kilometers in length, has been built with assistance of Iranian specialists. and in accordance with an agreement between Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, further $6 million are provided by Iran for completion of work on ventilation and lighting of the tunnel.
We will recall that Iran’s Saber International has constructed the Istiqlol Tunnel. The total project cost was estimated at 40 million US dollars, and Iran has provided US$5 million in a form of grant and extended a loan worth US$21 million to Tajikistan. The tunnel makes the highway from Dushanbe to Khujand open for traffic the whole year round and drops the transit time by four to five hours.
