DUSHANBE, December 10, 2014, Asia-Plus — Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda has got acquainted with the pace of the construction of the Vahdat-Yovon railway.
Subhiddin Muhiddinov, a senior consultant to the president’s press service, says 56 million somoni have been spent for the project over the first eleven months of this year. “In November alone, more than 1.5 kilometers of the railway were built,” said Muhiddinov. “In all, 2.4 kilometers of the Vahdat-Yovon railway have been built so far.”
We will recall that construction of tunnels and bridges along the Vahdat-Yovon railway started in early September this year. Three tunnels with total length of more than 3.7 kilometers and five bridges with total length of 712 meters will be built along the Vahdat-Yovon railway.
The construction of a rail link connecting Dushanbe, Vahdat and Yovon is expected to be completed in September 2016.
The Vahdat-Yovon railway that is 46.3 kilometers in length is being built in two stages. The first phase of the project includes construction of 13 kilometers of railway from the railway station Ilyak in the Vahdat district to the railway station Gambuloq in the Roudaki district. The second phase includes construction of a 33.3-kilometer railway from the Gambuloq station to the railway station Yovon-2 that will connect the railways Dushanbe-Vahdat and Yovon-Qurghon Teppa.
The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) has reportedly provided a $72 million loan for implementation of this project.
The present railway link joining the Tajik capital and Qurghon Teppa, which is 429 kilometers in length, runs across the territory of Uzbekistan and the Uzbek authorities have suspended rail traffic to the Tajik southern Khatlon province.
The Vahdat-Yovon railway will link the country”s central part with the southern province of Khatlon and will make it possible to shorten the distance by 152 kilometers.
