DUSHANBE, August 8, 2008, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan and France have signed a financial protocol on the project for construction of a new terminal art the Dushanbe airport.
The protocol was inked by Finance Minister, Mr. Safarali Najmuddinov, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Tajikistan, Mr. Olivier Maitland Pelen, in Dushanbe today morning.
The source at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said that under this protocol, France provides €17 million in preferential long-term loan for implementation of the project for construction an international terminal at the Dushanbe airport.
The loan carries a 35-year term, including a grace period of 20 years, and an interest rate of 0.15% per annum, the MoF source said.
The total cost of the project, designed for two years, is €24 million, including €17 million provided by France and Tajikistan’s contribution of €7 million.
We will recall that speaking to reporters after his meeting with President Rahmon, French Defense Minister Herve Morin revealed on September 8, 2007 that France will support reconstruction of the Dushanbe airport and construction of a new terminal. He noted that construction of the terminal will start in 2008.
As it had been reported earlier, representatives of France’s companies Sofema Group and Alpha Airport presented a model of a new international terminal in Dushanbe in late July.
According to the Tajik national air carrier, the terminal with an acceptance rate of 500 passengers per hour and meeting all international standards is expected to be located on an area of 11,000 square meters, which is four times more than the territory of the present Dushanbe airport. It will have 16 check-in counters connected to the automated system of registration of passengers and their luggage. The terminal will have two covered passenger ramps with four telescopic boarding bridges.
Political dialogue between Tajikistan and France has improved since 2001. An agreement signed on December 8, 2001 authorizing the stationing of French forces allowed for the immediate deployment of an air transport group of about a hundred men at Dushanbe airport. At the same time, the French diplomatic office was opened in Tajikistan. Following President Rahmon’s official visit to Paris in December 2002, it was turned into a fully operating Embassy. Military and defense cooperation was initiated and formalized between the two countries by a defense cooperation agreement signed on December 30 2002. An aeronautical engineering detachment took part in the study carried out on the Dushanbe airport runway.
President Rahmon made a working visit to Paris on October 10-11 2005, on the sidelines of the Tajikistan Days at UNESCO.
