DUSHANBE, October 16, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov was in the northern Sughd province at the end of last week to get acquainted with the completion phase of construction of the Shahriston Tunnel, Subhiddin Muhiddinov, a senior consultant with president’s press office, told Asia-Plus today.

According to him, the prime minister expressed satisfaction with the pace of work and ordered to remove existing inconsiderable technical shortcomings with the shortest possible delay.

During his stay in the province, Oqilov also visited separate stretches of the Ayni-Panjakent highway, which is currently under rehabilitation, Muhiddinov said.

Meanwhile, an official source at the Ministry of Transport (MoT) says the Shahriston Tunnel will be put in commission on October 23.  The main celebrations to mark introduction of the tunnel into operation is expected to take place in the northern city of Istaravshan and President Emomali Rahmon will attend the celebrations.

We will recall that the government had previously postponed the introduction of Shahriston Tunnel into operation until December 2012.  The tunnel was supposed to be introduced into operation in September 2011 but at request of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which is building the tunnel, the date of the introduction of the Shahriston tunnel into operation has been postponed because soft rock complicates the construction work.

The 5,252-meter Shahriston Tunnel is part the Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway rehabilitation project.  The tunnel is being constructed with help of specialists from China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).  A total budget for construction of the Shahriston Tunnel is US$51.7 million.

The Dushanbe-Khujand-Chanak highway rehabilitation project was launched in summer 2006.  Chinese company, China Road and Bridge Corporation, won the tender and Beijing in 2006 offered Tajikistan grants and loans to fund the project.  A total project cost is estimated at $295.9 million, including $281.1 million provided by the Chinese government in a form of a long-term loan.  The loan carries a 20-year period and an interest rate of 2 percent per annum.  The remaining some $14.8 million have been provided by the Government of Tajikistan.