DUSHANBE, April 27, 2011, Asia-Plus — Minister of Transport Nizom Hakimov is for imposition of toll fees on all the main highways in the country.
He remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 27. According to him, a number of projects for rehabilitation of the country’s main highways and construction of new highways are being implemented in the country.
The highways Dushanbe-Vahdat-Danghara and Qurhghon Teppa-Dusti are currently under rehabilitation.
“The project for rehabilitation of a 42-kilometer-long highway from Qurghon Teppa to Dusti is expected to be completed by September this year,” said the minister, “In order to maintain the highways they should become toll roads and toll fees must be reasonable, of course.”
We will recall that currently, there is one toll road in the country – the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway. This 350-kilometer road connects the capital with the northern Sughd province and Uzbekistan.
The highway was upgraded by Chinese companies and paid for with a $280 million loan from China. The Tajik government announced that in order to repay the loan the highway would become a toll road. Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) company was permitted to operate the toll on the Dushanbe-Chanak highway.
