DUSHANBE, October 15, 2010, Asia-Plus — Feasibility study for the Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Uzbekistan border road rehabilitation project will be finished by November, Nizom Hokimov, the director the road rehabilitation projects implementation unit, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 14.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided a US$650,000 technical assistance grant and the government has contributed US$150,000 for conducting the feasibility study, Hokimov said, noting that a total cost of the project I US$171.2 million.
The two-lane, 61.5-kilometer road is the main highway linking Dushanbe and the district centers in Hissar Valley to Uzbekistan. It is part of the Transport Corridor III connecting Russia, Middle East and South Asia, one of the six priority transport corridors identified under the ADB-supported Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.
According to Hokimov, the section of the road from Dushanbe to Tursunzoda will be upgraded into four-lane highway, 25 meters in width, while the section of road from Tursunzoda to Uzbekistan border will be a two-lane highway, 15 meters in width.
He also noted that a six-kilometer section the road from the Abu Ali Sino monument in Dushanbe to the western gate of the Tajik capital would be reconstructed due to funds provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The cost of this project is 27 million U.S. dollars.
The Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Uzbekistan border road rehabilitation project is aimed at developing an integrated and efficient road transport link between Dushanbe and Uzbekistan border.
