DUSHANBE
, July 11, Asia-Plus – The implementation of the project aimed at rehabilitation of the highway Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak (Uzbek border) officially commenced in the Varzob district today morning.
President Emomali Rahmonov and top manager of
China
’s
State Road
-building Corporation “
China Road
” Chen Yusheng as well as high-ranking Tajik and Chinese state officials attended a ceremony of the official launch of the project in Varzob.
Rahmonov telling the inaugurating ceremony noted that automotive roads were of significant importance for
Tajikistan
. A total length of Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak (Uzbek border is more than 410 kilometers, and the project will fund rehabilitation of some sections of this road and construction of 86 kilometers of new roads, President Rahmonov noted.
“The road will facilitate development of the country’s economy, development of export industries in particular, and bring
Tajikistan
out of communication,” said the Tajik president, “With joining of the Dushanbe-Uzbek border road with the highway from
Dushanbe
to Kulma the
Great Silk Route
will be revived.”
Rahmonov noted that the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak road would be finished in August 2008. “The Anzob tunnel will be opened for traffic in near future and once the project on the Shahriston tunnel becomes operational, it will drop the transit time from
Dushanbe
to Khujand by six hours,” Rahmonov said. Rahmonov ordered to open the Anzob tunnel for regular traffic by August 15 this year and after that, to set to the construction of the Shahriston tunnel.
He also noted that the highway fro
Dushanbe
to northern
Tajikistan
was also of importance for development of tourism in the republic. The head of state also noted that at present 14 transportation projects totaling 1.52 billion Somonis were being implemented in
Tajikistan
.
Telling the inaugurating ceremony, Mr. Chen Yusheng, for his part, noted that his company having more than 20 representative office and branches throughout the world had a good experience in the construction of roads and bridges.
As it had been reported earlier,
China
allots more than 603.9 million U.S. dollars in long-term loans to
Tajikistan
for implementing three projects in
Tajikistan
: two in the field of energy (construction of high-voltage electricity lines) and one in the field of transportation. Agreements on these projects were signed in
Shanghai
on June 14 on the results of meeting of President Rahmonov with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. Rahmonov met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of his visit to
China
[on June 14-15] to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Tajik Ministry of Transport and
China
’s Corporation “
China Road
” signed an agreement on rehabilitation of the road linking
Tajikistan
and
Uzbekistan
(Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak). The estimated budget for the implementation of this project is nearly US$296 million. Of this amount, US$281.2 million are provided by
China
in loans. This project designed for two years includes full rehabilitation of some sections of 410-kilometer road and bridges as well the construction of a five-kilometer Shahriston tunnel in the Sughd province.
More than 50 Chinese specialists have arrived in
Tajikistan
to study the highway, according to information from the Ministry of Transport (MoT). Besides,
China
has already delivered to
Tajikistan
25 special construction machines for implementing the project.
