DUSHANBE, November 30, Asia-Plus — The Shahriston pass will work during the winter months, Asia-Plus has learned from Qurbon Naimov, a specialist with road-building department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC).
According to him, the pass may probably be temporarily closed in case of threat of avalanches.
The work on construction of the Shahriston tunnel will not be stopped as well. Rustam Abdulloyev, the deputy director of the unit for implementation of the Dushanbe-Chanak highway rehabilitation project, said that the section of highway in the Ayni district leading to the tunnel will be closed for traffic only on weekends, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., when the blast work will be carried out.
We will recall that Chinese company China Road has won the tender for implementation of the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak (Uzbek border town) highway rehabilitation project and Beijing last year offered Tajikistan grants and loans to fund the project. Rehabilitation of the road and construction of a tunnel under the Shahriston pass started in July 2006. .
The tunnel is scheduled to be finished by August 2009, while the rehabilitation of the highway from Dushanbe to Chanak will have been completed by August 2008.
A total project cost is estimated at some $296 million, including $281.2 million provided by the Chinese government in a form of a long-term loan. The loan carries a 20-year period and an interest rate of 2 percent per annum. The remaining some $14 million are provided by the government of Tajikistan.
