KHUJAND, September 15, 2008, Asia-Plus — 462 meters of the Shahriston tunnel have been constructed from the northern portal so far, Ilhom Jamolov, head of the Sughd information analysis department, said in an interview with Asia-Plus on Saturday.
According to him, the construction is progressing and some 1,800 meters of the automotive and nearly 2,000 meters of ventilation tunnel have been dug by drift miners from the southern portal.
Narzullo Alimatov, manager of section 3 of the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway rehabilitation project, said that 333 builders and specialists from China and 39 Tajik nationals are involved in construction of the tunnel.
In accordance with the project, a total length the Shahriston tunnel is 5,042 meters; however, some changes have been made to the project and tunnel’s length will increase by 200 meters.
Construction of the tunnel is part of plans to improve road communications between Dushanbe, Khujand and the Uzbek border town of Chanak.
Rehabilitation of the road and construction of the tunnel started in the summer of 2006. Chinese company won the tender and Beijing in 2006 offered Tajikistan grants and loans to fund the project.
A total project cost is estimated at some $296 million, including $281.2 million provided by the Chinese government in a form of a long-term loan. The loan carries a 20-year period and an interest rate of 2 percent per annum. The remaining some $14 million are provided by the government of Tajikistan.
