DUSHANBE, October 29 – On Sunday October 28, the first motor convoy crossed the Tajik-Afghan Bridge across the Panj River in the Panji Poyon between Panji Poyon, Tajikistan and Sherkhan Bandar, Afghanistan, Afghanistan.ru cited Afghan news agency Bakhtar as reporting.
Workers of the Sherkhan Bandar port say if formerly entrepreneurs had to pay $2000 for transporting 300 tons of goods, now transportation of the same cargo comes to some $200.
At present the bridge is open for traffic from Afghanistan to from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. and from Tajikistan to Afghanistan – from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
We will recall that on August 26 2007 the United States Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez, representing U.S. President George W. Bush, joined Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in dedicating the recently-completed bridge joining the two countries at Panji Poyon. The bridge is the largest U.S. Government-funded ($37.1 million) infrastructure project for Tajikistan.
The bridge will provide the region with inter-connectivity by cutting the distance between Dushanbe and seaports almost in half. It also facilitates access to a warm water port in Karachi, Pakistan, for the countries to the north. This should spur increased trade and economic development throughout the region.
The bridge, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the firm Rizzani de Eccher S.p.A. of Udine, Italy, is 673 meters long and can carry up to 1,000 vehicles per day. It consists of 19,100 cubic meters of concrete and stainless steel sheets fabricated in Europe, weathered in Italy, then shipped to Tajikistan. Its eleven piers, twelve steel spans, and two abutments are designed to require little or no maintenance. The project also includes Border Police Barracks, an Administration Building, a Dining Facility, a Drive-Through Scanner Building and a small Customs Facility.
In Afghanistan, the Asian Development Bank is building a road link to the Afghan Ring Road. Japan is building and rehabilitating a road from the bridge northwards to connect to existing roads and the southern Tajik city of Dusti.
