DUSHANBE, January 22, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on January 21, the Architecture and Construction Agency director Abduvali Komilov said that dwelling prices have dropped by 30%-40% in Dushanbe.

He attributed landslide of the dwelling prices to effects of the ongoing financial crisis.  “Several months ago a two-bedroom apartment n the center of Dushanbe cost on average 100,000 US dollar, while at present, such apartment costs 60,000-70,000 dollars,” Komilov said.

On the sate of the construction sector, he said Tajikistan now needed more than 20,000 skilled builders for construction of jubilee facilities in the country on occasion of the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence that would be marked in 2011.

“A number of jubilee facilities in the Sughd province, including a boarding school in Chkalovsk and stadium in Khujand, are scheduled to be finished already this year,” said the director, “Construction of theatre, stadium, boarding school and kindergarten in Gorno Badakhshan is to be completed by June 2010.”

New buildings for the National Public Library and the National Museum as well as a number of apartment buildings are supposed to be constructed in Dushanbe, he said.

According to the Architecture and Construction Agency, 1,200 construction companies now function in Tajikistan.