DUSHANBE, July 16, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Construction of Central Asia’s largest mosque is expected to be completed in Dushanbe in 2016, Abduvali Komilzoda told journalists in Dushanbe on July 16.

On the necessity of construction of such a large mosque, Komilzoda said that existing mosques are not able to accommodate a large number of worshipers, and therefore, many of worshipers are forced to pray outside mosques along roads.

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon began construction of Central Asia’s largest mosque not far from downtown Dushanbe in October 2011, a month after officially raising the country’s flag on the world’s tallest unsupported flagpole in Dushanbe.

The cost of the project is 100 million U.S. dollars and the Kingdom of Qatar is putting up 70 percent of the cost of the project, with Tajikistan raising the rest.

The mosque is expected to accommodate some 120,000 worshippers at a time.