DUSHANBE, March 3, 2011, Asia-Plus — A tender for the contract to upgrade the Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Uzbekistan border highway will be held on March 16, Ghoibnazar Boronov, deputy director of the road rehabilitation project management unit within the Ministry of Transport (MoT), told Asia-Plus Thursday afternoon.
“To-date, we have received applications from 36 companies from Tajikistan, China, Turkey, Italy, Korea, Kazakhstan and some other countries for participation in the tender,” Boronov said, noting that the implementation of the project will start in the second quarter of this year.
According to MoT, specialists from Fraser Thomas Partners (New Zealand) have conducted feasibility study for the project. The Asian Development (ADB) allocated US$650,000 for the project feasibility study and Tajik government’s contribution was US$150,000.
We will recall that the ADB provides a $120 million grant to help Tajikistan upgrade a vital road linking the capital Dushanbe with the Uzbekistan border. A grant agreement was inked in Dushanbe on January 20 by Tajik Finance Minister Safarali Najmiddinov and ADB’s Country Director for Tajikistan Joji Tokeshi.
The 62-kilometer highway passes through the Hissar Valley and the town of Tursunzoda – two major economic areas in Tajikistan. Hissar Valley has the largest agricultural output in the country, producing cotton, grain, fruits, and vegetables. Tursunzoda is home to Central Asia”s largest aluminum processing plant as well as light industry. The grant will finance road upgrading and improvements to drainage structures and bridges.
The grant will also improve facilities at the Dusti border, which handles about 50,000 vehicles per year, or a quarter of Tajikistan”s cross-border vehicles and freight. The project will include connecting the border point to a dependable power source, building modern customs buildings, and installing new information technology, all of which will help increase trade and cut waiting time at the border.
The grant is sourced from the Asian Development Fund and the project is expected to be finished until January 30, 2015.
The stretch 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.
According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Tajik government’s contribution to the project is 34.3 million U.S. dollars.
