The GBAO region in eastern Tajikistan (Photo: www.eurasianet.org)The Tajik authorities will allocate 2.5 billion somoni ($227 million) for the construction and reconstruction of a road in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) in the east of the country, which will be used as part of a transport corridor from China to Europe. This was announced by the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon.
“The road section is 109 kilometres long, and after complete reconstruction it will be shortened by 17 kilometres. As a result, there will be 92 kilometres of a modern road that meets all international standards. The cost of the project is 2.5 billion somoni,” Rahmon told the presidential press service.
He noted that the construction of this motorway from Darvaz to Rushan district is already underway. “The construction of this road is of great importance not only for the population of the region, but in the near future it will be used as a transit economic corridor, China – Tajikistan – Northern Afghanistan and China – Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey – Europe,” the head of state added.
The President also noted that for the operation of transport corridors, the Government of the Republic has decided to build a number of roads, in particular from the village of Rushan to the village of Varshez in the Shugnan district of GBAO, which is 235 km long, and from Varshez to the Kulma-Karasu checkpoint on the border with China, which is about 300 km long, and the checkpoint itself has been reconstructed. “Work on the design of these roads has been completed. <…> Thanks to the organisation of transport corridors, transit and tourism opportunities in GBAO will increase many times over,” Rahmon said.
The president also noted that he is declaring the 21st century “a century of development and progress of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region”.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan, the head of the ministry, Azim Ibrogim, said in October 2022 that work was underway in the republic to open a multimodal transport corridor from Tajikistan to Turkey, which would also be connected to China.
