DUSHANBE, January 27, 2012, Asia-Plus — Rehabilitation of the Kulob-Qalai Khumb highway connecting Kulob region and Gorno Badakhshan will begin in early February this year, Ismonqul Shoqulov, executive director of the Shagon-Zighar road rehabilitation project implementation unit (PIU), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, Turkish-Kuwaiti joint venture, Combined Group TK, will be engaged in rehabilitation of the highway. “This enterprise won the tender and it was granted the contract for implementation of this project,” said Shoqulov. “Tajik Ministry of Transport and Combined Group TK signed an appropriate agreement in December 2011.”
Eleven companies from Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey reportedly participated in the tender. Tajik companies did not take part in the tender.
The Kulob-Qalai Khumb road rehabilitation project is implemented under financial support of the Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, OPEC Fund and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.
These companies provide a total of 85 million U.S. dollars in loans for implementation of the project and Tajik government’s contribution to the project is reportedly 7 million U.S. dollars.
The project includes rehabilitation of the 40-kilometer Shouroobod-Shagon section of the road and construction of three bridges with a total length of one kilometer.
Feasibility study for rehabilitation of the Kulob-Qalai Khumb highway was conducted by the Al Abuhadi-Spectrum Company in 2008. The feasibility study was funded by a $1 million grant from the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development.
