The Ministry of Transport (MoT) is considering more than 30 road infrastructure development projects. More than 2.7 billion U.S. dollars are reportedly needed for implementation of these projects.
The most expensive of them is the project for rehabilitation of the Khorog-Kulma section of the Dushanbe-Khorog-Kulma highway, an official source at a MoT told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the estimated budget for rehabilitation of this 395-kilometer section of the Dushanbe-Kulma highway is some 568 million U.S dollars.
Among the prospective projects with relatively high budgets are projects aimed at rehabilitation of the following roads: 80-kilometer section of the Qalai Khumb-Vanj road (USD 238 million); 163-kilometer road from Vanj to Khorog (USD 200 million); and a 83-kilometer road from Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghan territory (USD 215 million).
Currently, 12 investment road infrastructure development projects are being implemented in Tajikistan. A total budget for implementation of these projects is some USD 700 million.
Among them are projects aimed at rehabilitation of Khujand-Isfara, Dushanbe-Tursuunzoda (from Avicenna monument to Dushanbe’s Western Gate), Kulob-Qalai Khumb (Shohin-Shagon and Shohin-Kulob sections) and Vose-Khovaling, Temurmalik-Baljuvon-Khovaling roads, the source added.
Recall, the World Economic Forum (MEF)’s Global Competitiveness Index 2018 ranks Tajikistan with a quality score of 4.1 ranks 41st among the 137 world economies in terms of quality of roads.
Tajikistan is in the fourth place among post-Soviet republic in terms of road infrastructure.
Azerbaijan (36th) tops the former Soviet republics in terms of road infrastructure. It is followed by Lithuania (37th) and Estonia (38th).
It is to be noted that practically all the road infrastructure has been reconstructed in Tajikistan during the years of independence, except the roads in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). The roads in GBAO had been built in the Soviet era and they are currently in a very poor state and they have not been reconstructed so far. WEF experts probably did not take them into consideration while evaluating the road infrastructure of Tajikistan.
