DUSHANBE, January 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — On Wednesday January 14, Mr. Yoshihiro Nakayama, Chargé D’Affaires, Japan’s Embassy in Dushanbe, and Mr. Hamrokhon Zarifi, foreign Minister of Tajikistan, exchanged Notes concerning the General Grant Aid of the Government of Japan for the Project for the Improvement of Dusti-Nizhny Panj Road, press release issued by the Japanese Embassy said.
As Tajikistan is located on the crossroads of Eurasia and Asia, the significance of its transportation network is immense for further intra-regional cooperation enhancement as well as increasing the potential for cooperation on the international level. The importance of improving the transport routes from Central Asia to the south, which will contribute to the prosperity of landlocked countries in the region, is also emphasized in the Action Plan of “Central Asia plus Japan” Dialogue under which all Central Asian countries realized the importance of improving transport system, press release said.
In connection with economic and trade development in the region, expansion and strengthening of international economic cooperation, the issue of road infrastructure development is a priority not only for Tajikistan but for the whole region of Central Asia including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
The Dusti-Nizhny Panj road is a 23,7km section of the Qurghon Teppa – Nizhny Panj road to be rehabilitated in two consecutive phases.
The first phase of the project, which embraced 8, 3 km of the road, has been already completed and the second phase will encompass the rehabilitation of the remaining 15,36km. The total amount allocated for the second phase of the Project is 1,324,000,000 Japanese Yen equivalent to around US$ 15 million.
The Dusti-Nizhny Panj Road links to the newly built “Dusty” bridge on the border between the Republic of Tajikistan and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
