Tajikistan Road Heading to Turkey and Europe Gets $35 Million EBRD Loan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a sovereign loan of $35 million for the Dushanbe–Uzbekistan Border Road Improvement Project. The EBRD loan will finance the urban section of the M41 highway within Tajikistan—4.6 kilometers (km) of the highway within the capital city of Dushanbe, from the Avicenna Monument to the West Gate.
The project involves widening the road from three lanes to four, constructing a flyover and underpass, and construction of a new asphalt road, replacing the existing concrete pavement. The upgrade of the road’s urban section will increase transport capacity and relieve congestion in Dushanbe, and improve road safety.
The road to the Uzbekistan border lies through the Gissar valley, a very fertile region with many small industrial towns. Trade and industry and, importantly, agriculture will benefit from a better road in this region of over 700,000 people.
EBRD Director for Transport Sue Barrett said, “This is an important road investment for Tajikistan, and the EBRD is pleased to be financing this project alongside the Asian Development Bank. The road forms part of the CAREC [Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation] III Corridor so is also important from a regional perspective.”
The project will complete the corridor’s missing link in Tajikistan—the section from Dushanbe to the Uzbekistan border. CAREC Corridor 3 covers almost 7,000 km of roads and runs across Central Asia in a north–south direction, linking the Russian Federation to the Persian Gulf.
The Asian Development Bank is providing a grant of $120 million for the inter-urban sections of the 62 km highway. The Government of Tajikistan will contribute $42 million to the project. While, EBRD’s Early Transition Countries Fund and the Slovak fund are also assisting with technical cooperation for the project.