KHOROG, May 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — The border-crossing point Kulma-Qarasou on the Tajik-Chinese border in GBAO’s Murgab district is expected to open for traffic on May 5, the GBAO economy and antimonopoly directorate head Latif Shohzodayev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
Sine May 1, 2008, the crossing has worked every day, except weekends, from May though November.
“Last year, the crossing worked only five hours per day and this year, the GBAO authorities have applied to the central government with solicitation to increase the crossing’s daily work to 10 hours,” Shohzodayev said.
The Tajik-China trade route, opened in 2004, runs from Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan in southeastern Tajikistan, over a high-altitude plateau and then down into China, where it ends in the city of Kashgar, 700 kilometers away.
As conditions are so tough at the Kulma border crossing, which is located on a mountain pass 4,400 meters high, until May 1 2008, the gateway had stayed open only 15 days out of every month, while from November through April it had been closed altogether.
Last year, in accordance with Tajik-Chinese agreement regulating functioning of the crossing, the crossing’s functioning was extended for one month and since May 1, 2008, it has worked every day from May through November.
In the meantime, local entrepreneurs complain that to get Chinese visa they have to go Dushanbe that takes quite a lot of time and money. Last year, they applied to local authorities asking to promote opening of the Chinese Embassy’s representative office in Khorog that could issue Chinese visas to the GBAO residents.
Besides, in accordance with new rules of traveling to China via the border-crossing checkpoint Kulma-Qarasou introduced by the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe last year, Tajik nationals should show document certifying that that they have no less than 1,000 US dollars on their bank accounts as well as invitation letter. Local entrepreneurs say the new rules introduced by the Chinese Embassy and high tax rates resulted in prices of goods in Khorog’s market increasing.
