DUSHANBE, August 3, 2009, Asia-Plus — The Istiqlol Tunnel that links the northern Sughd province to the central part of Tajikistan has been temporarily closed for traffic, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC).
The source at a MoTC said that the tunnel would be closed for traffic until October 1 this year. “This measure is taken in connection with completion of construction work at the tunnel,” the source said.
As it had been reported earlier, the Government of Iran is providing another 6 million US dollars that are going to financing installation of lighting and ventilation systems of the tunnel. To this date, Iran has reportedly provided 1 million dollars of this amount.
The Istiqlol Tunnel, better known among the population as the Anzob Tunnel, has been built with assistance of Iranian specialists and in accordance with an agreement reached between President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in 2008, further $6 million are provided by Iran for completion of work on ventilation and lighting of the tunnel.
We will recall that Iran’s Saber International has constructed the Istiqlol Tunnel. The total project cost was estimated at 40 million US dollars, and Iran has provided US$5 million in a form of grant and extended a preferential loan worth US$21 million to Tajikistan. The tunnel makes the highway from Dushanbe to Khujand open fro traffic the whole year round and drops the transit time by four to five hours.
An official opening ceremony of the Istiqlol Tunnel was held in July 2007; however, there are still some uncompleted works.
