Mr. Azim Aibrohim, Minister of Transport of Tajikistan and Mr. Fei Lyu, Manager – Authorized Representative at China’s Hunan Road & Bridge Construction Group Co., Ltd, on April 12 signed here an agreement on implementation of the project aiming at constructing of a section of a road connecting the towns of Obigarm and Nourobod.
The Transport Ministry press center says the Chinese company will construct a 30.2-kilometer section from Obigarm to Tagikamar and two tunnels with a total length of 1.2 kilometers. The company will also construct five bridges and rehabilitate one bridge with a total length of 1.7 kilometers.
According to the Ministry of Transport, an estimated budget for implementation of this project is 178.1 million U.S. dollars
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the OPEC Fund for International Development are co-financing the project. The ADB has approved a US$110 million grant and the OPEC Fund for International Development has approved a US$40-million loan. The Tajik government’s contribution to the project amounts to 28.1 million U.S. dollars.
The Obigarm–Nourobod road is part of Corridors 2, 3, and 5 of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program that links landlocked and mountainous Tajikistan to Eurasian and global markets. The road connects the capital Dushanbe to the northeast region of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic, and carries around 2,000 vehicles a day.
The construction of the new two-lane highway between Obigarm and Nourobod will help to improve the country’s connectivity and trade competitiveness. The construction of this 75-km long highway has been divided into three sections.
The new highway will replace the existing road which will cease operation to make way for a hydroelectric dam currently under construction.
The highway will be climate-resilient and built to international road safety standards. The project will also strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Transport on road asset management, and enhance women’s access to economic opportunities through training and improving access to financial resources.
Established in China in 1954, the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Company Limited (HNRB) has grown to become a major integrated construction enterprise operating in more than 20 countries and having 10 subsidiaries worldwide. HNRB has been awarded a GRAA award of Int’l Road Federation for the iconic 1,176 meters Aizhai Bridge in China’s Hunan Province, which is the biggest cross-canyon suspension bridge in the world.
