DUSHANBE, January 19, 2011, Asia-Plus — Damage caused to Tajik Railways by Uzbekistan’s blockade of rail traffic to Tajikistan has been estimated at more than 20 million U.S. dollars, the Tajik Railways top manager Amonullo Hukumov announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 19.
According to him, the figures are preliminary and the precise information will be given during the first quarter of this year.
“The rail cargo transit situation has practically become stable and there are no rail problems now,” said Hukumov. “After a meeting between Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Uzbek counterpart, President Islam Karimov, the situation has improved and we now receive cargo in time.”
To-date, only 17 freight cars bound for Tajikistan are being held up at the Kudukli railroad station because of the customer procedure problems, the Tajik rail company top manager added.
We will recall that Uzbekistan began the rail blockade of Tajikistan-bound cargo cars briefly in the fall of 2009. It resumed the blockade early last year while publicly opposing construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power (HPP) in Tajikistan. Official Tashkent claims that the plant will divert too much water from flowing to Uzbekistan and will damage the country”s agricultural output.
