Under a draft agreement that will be signed by the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan and the Iran Water & Power Resources Development Company (IWPRC), Iran will award $5.5 million grant to Tajikistan for completion of the construction of the Istiqlol Tunnel.
The grant will be spent for completion of the second phase of the construction of the tunnel that includes design work as well as purchase and installation of ventilation, lighting, security surveillance and firefighting systems.
Iran’s Farab Company, which together with Iranian Saber Internal Company was involved in construction of the Istiqlol Tunnel, will carry out all these works.
In all, additional 11 million U.S. dollars are needed for completion of the construction of the tunnel.
Under the mentioned agreement, the Government of Tajikistan will also provide 5.5 million U.S. dollars for completion of the construction of the Istiqlol Tunnel.
The Istiqlol Tunnel, better known among the population as the Anzob Tunnel, was built with assistance of Iranian specialists.
The Istiqlol Tunnel is a five kilometer long tunnel located 80 kilometers northwest of Dushanbe. It connects the Tajik capital to Tajikistan’s second largest city, Khujand. It is also a transit route between Dushanbe and Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent. Previously, especially during the cold seasons, a lack of a direct link between northern and southern Tajikistan led to disruptions of commerce. The tunnel makes the highway from Dushanbe to Khujand open for traffic the whole year round and drops the transit time by four to five hours.
An official opening ceremony of the Istiqlol Tunnel was held in July 2007; however, some parts of its construction have not been finalized yet.
Iranian media reports say the tunnel was constructed in three years, “costing 60 million U.S. dollars.”
