In a statement delivered at a joint meeting of both chambers of parliament, President Emomali Rahmon yesterday noted that more than 1,000 kilometers of road will be built in the country over the next five years.

“Currently, 13 national investment projects are being implemented in a total amount of more than 11 billion somonis are being implemented in the transport sector that will contribute to the transformation of Tajikistan into the country with modern transit conditions,” the president said.

According to him, Guliston-Farkhor, Jaloliddini-Balkhi – Qubodiyon – Shahritous, Danghara-Guliston-Kulob, Khujand-Konibodom, Khujand-Asht and Rushan-Khorog-Kulma will be constructed and rehabilitated in 2022-2026.

In all, more than 1000 kilometers of roads, 53 ridges, seven tunnels and five avalanche galleries will be built in the country over the reporting period, the head of state.

The Rushan-Khorog-Kulma road is the key section of the highway connecting Dushanbe, Khorog (the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO) and Kulma Pass, the only overland route between Tajikistan and China.      

The Dushanbe-Kulob-Khorog-Kulma-Karokurum highway may reference Asian Highway 66 (AH66) as well as parts of the famous Pamir Highway.  AH66 runs from Dushanbe to Xinjiang, crossing the border at Kulma Pass and connecting to the Karakoram highway that runs north-south from China into Pakistan. 

It is to be noted that the Dushanbe-Khorog highway was built in 1940 in a record three and a half months.  Until 1940, it was possible to get from Khorog to Dushanbe only after driving 732 kilometers to Osh (Kyrgyzstan) by carriage road, and then 1551 kilometers by rail.

Emomali Rahmon yesterday also noted that construction and rehabilitation of Obigarm-Nourobod, Hulbuk-Temurmalik-Kangurt, Danghara-Levakant-Bokhtar, Qizilqala-Bokhtar, Bekbodo – Bobojon-Ghafouov – Konibodom, Dushanbe Bokhtar roads and the Qlaikhumb-Vanj section of the Dushanbe-Khorog highway have begun this year.

Besides, construction of the Tajik-Afghan bridge across the Panj River connecting the Kokul area in Khatlon’s Farkhor district and Ai-Khanoum village in Takhar province, northern Afghanistan, the bridge across the Ghund River in Khorog as avalanche galleries near Barsem village in Shugnan district reportedly began in 2021.