DUSHANBE, June 17, 2016, Asia-Plus – Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda yesterday visited the Yovon district to inspect the pace of work on construction of the Vahdat-Yovon railway.

According to the PM Secretariat, the railway is expected to be introduced into operation in September this year, on the threshold of the 25th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence that will be celebrated on September 9.

329 workers and engineers have reportedly been involved in construction of this railway and to-date they have built 32 kilometers of this railway.   

We will recall that the Vahdat-Yovon railway project includes construction of three tunnels with total length of more than 3.7 kilometers and five bridges with total length of 712 meters along the railway.

The Vahdat-Yovon railway that is 46.3 kilometers in length is being built in two stages.  The first phase of the project includes construction of 13 kilometers of railway from the railway station Ilyak in the Vahdat district to the railway station Gambuloq in the Roudaki district.  The second phase includes construction of a 33.3-kilometer railway from the Gambuloq station to the railway station Yovon-2 that will connect the railways Dushanbe-Vahdat and Yovon-Qurghon Teppa.

The present railway link joining the Tajik capital and Qurghon Teppa, which is 429 kilometers in length, runs across the territory of Uzbekistan.

The Vahdat-Yovon railway will link the country''s central part with the southern province of Khatlon and will make it possible to shorten the distance by 152 kilometers.

While in the Yovon district, the prime minister also got acquainted with construction of a new cement plant there.

Tajik-Chinese joint company, Chzhung-Tsai Mohir Cement LTD, is building this cement plant.  This 1.2 million ton capacity cement plant will create 850 new jobs.  An enterprise to produce gypsum plasterboards and an enterprise to produce cement sacks will be built at this cement plant.  A total cost of the project is 958 million somoni.

Rasoulzoda also got acquainted with construction of plants for production of cryolite, aluminum fluoride and sulfuric acid in Yovon.

The plant for production of aluminum fluoride with annual capacity of 18,000 tons, the plant for production of cryolite with annual capacity of 12,000 tons and the plant for production of sulfuric acid with annual capacity of 130,000 tons are expected to be introduced into operation this year. A total cost of these three projects is 126 million U.S. dollars, including 88.5 million U.S dollars provided by China Exim Bank and more than 37 million U.S. dollars invested in the projects by Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO).