DUSHANBE, April 19, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- An estimated budget for rehabilitation of the Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Uzbek border highway is 135 million U.S. dollars, Nizom Hakimov, director of the road project implementation unit (PIU), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a US$51 million grant for this project and Tajikistan’s contribution to the project is US27 million.

“Another 57 million U.S. dollars are needed for implementation of this project,” Hakimov said, noting that the government is currently conducting negotiations with international financial institutions, including ADB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to attract additional funds.

“A video-conference with participation of representatives from the government and donor organizations is expected to take place this week to discuss this issue,” the PIU director said, adding that last November, a US$650,000 grant was provided by ADB and US$150,000 were provided by the government of Tajikistan for developing the project and conducting feasibility study.