The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide 120 million U.S. dollars in grants to support implementation of two projects in Tajikistan.
The grant agreements to help Tajikistan develop tourism and construct the Obigarm-Nourobod road were signed here on December 31. The agreements were inked by Mr. Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, Minister of Finance of Tajikistan, and Mr. Pradeep Srivastava, ADB’s Country Director for Tajikistan.
According to the Ministry of Finance (Mo) Secretariat, a US$10 million grant will help Tajikistan develop tourism in the country. The project is ADB’s first tourism sector operation in Tajikistan.
The project is expected to prepare a comprehensive tourism development plan, including market demand analysis and skills mapping, as well as strengthening the institutional capacity in the sector.
The project will also help the country formulate a Tourism Satellite Account, a strategic prerequisite for developing and monitoring the sector that provides information on issues such as tourism share in the country’s gross domestic product, national employment, and foreign direct investment; the relationship of tourism to net foreign exchange flows; the share of various types of tourism along with associated revenues; and the breakdown of tourism expenditures. Additionally, the project will identify and develop priority investment pipeline and prepare feasibility studies and detailed designs of the identified projects.
The total cost of the project is $11 million, with the Government of Tajikistan providing US$1 million. The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
A US$110 million grant is provided to Tajikistan to support construction of 30 kilometers of a highway and 30 kilometers of secondary roads between the towns of Obigarm and Nourobod in the northeast of the country.
The Obigarm–Nourobod road is part of Corridors 2, 3, and 5 of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program that links landlocked and mountainous Tajikistan to Eurasian and global markets. The road connects the capital Dushanbe to the northeast region of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and carries around 2,000 vehicles a day.
The new highway will replace the existing road which will cease operation to make way for a hydroelectric dam currently under construction. The highway will be completed before the existing road is decommissioned as the only alternative route would entail a deviation of about 320 km.
The highway will be climate-resilient and built to international road safety standards. The project will also strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Transport on road asset management, and enhance women’s access to economic opportunities through training and improving access to financial resources.
ADB’s first assistance to Tajikistan was in 1998 to support post-conflict reconstruction. Since then, ADB has mobilized over $1.8 billion for the country, including more than $1.2 billion in grants. The assistance has helped improve the country’s transport and energy infrastructure, support social development, expand agricultural production, and strengthen regional cooperation and trade.
