The construction of the Dushanbe Central Mosque, which is expected to be Central Asia’s largest mosque, has been completed and  everyone is waiting for its opening.

An official opening ceremony of the Dushanbe Central Mosque is expected to take place within the next few days.  

Several thousand builders have been engaged in construction of this mosque. 

President Emomali Rahmon began construction of this 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.

A total cost of the project is nearly 100 million U.S. dollars; more than half of this amount has reportedly been provided by Qatar.

The mosque is expected to be able to accommodate up to 120,000 worshipers.  Tajikistan is now home to the Central Asian largest mosque, dwarfing the Turkmenbashi mosque in neighboring Turkmenistan, which can hold 10,000 people.

Critics say the mosque is an extravagance and that the money would be better spent on poverty reduction.