KHUJAND, May 20, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Toll payments were introduced for the section of the Dushanbe-Chanak highway in Sughd province today.

As it had been reported earlier, Innovative Road Solutions Ltd (IRS) that manages the Dushanbe-Chanak highway officially opened two toll plazas in Sughd province on May 14.  However, introduction of toll payments for the highway in the province was postponed until May 20 at the request of the Sughd authorities.  In Sughd province, the toll plazas were installed on the 237th kilometer (the toll plaza Istaravshan) and on the 302nd kilometer (the toll plaza Chorukh) of the highway.

Meanwhile, many drivers were not ready for the toll road mechanism.  The Asia-Plus reporter for Sughd visited the Chorukh plaza, where the IRS employees had to explain drivers that the highway had become a toll road.

“We did not know that we now have to pay a toll (fee) for using the road.  It was necessary to inform people of that,” the minivan driver Rahmon said.

The IRS regional manager Mirzoali Mansourov noted that cars and minivans with no more than 12 seats would pay 16.80 somoni for proceeding via the Chorukh plaza.  He added that residents of the Mastchoh district had benefits.  “Owners of cars and minivans from this district pay 8.00 somoni for proceedings via the Chorukh plaza,” Mansourov said, noting that the list of car owners from Mastchoh will be provided the district administration.

In all, four toll service stations will be constructed in northern Tajikistan.  One toll plaza, Dehmoy, will be installed on the 285th kilometer and the other one, Shahriston, will be installed on the 178th kilometer.

We will recall that the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway has been reconstructed by Chinese companies and paid for with a US$280 million loan from China.  The Tajik government announced that in order to repay the loan the highway would become a toll road.  The first two toll plazas were installed on the highway in the Varzob district on April 1.

Residents of Varzob strongly protested against the toll road and sent a petition signed by some 10,000 people to President Emomali Rahmon urging the elimination of the toll.  Residents of the Mastchoh district also noted at a meeting with IRS’s representatives on May 11 that they are against the toll for the highway.

Besides, Mr. Amonullo Ashour, the head of Antimonopoly Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, says that the toll road is now operating illegally.  He told Asia-Plus on May 5 that IRS was permitted to operate the toll at previously agreed prices on the Dushanbe-Chanak highway for one month, in April, and that the toll road operation since May 1 is illegal.  Mr. Ashour said that under the agreement between the company and the government, IRS was required to coordinate its pricing policy with the antimonopoly agency and to review the toll rates after April.  He added that the antimonopoly agency on May 4 sent a written ruling on suspension of the road toll management mechanism for the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway to IRS and copies of the ruling were sent to the Ministry of Transport Communications and the administration of the Varzob district.