DUSHANBE, July 27, 2010, Asia-Plus -- As of April 1, 2010, 57 investment projects for a total amount of 1.583 billion U.S. dollars have been implemented in Tajikistan, Davlatali Saidov, the head of the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest), told reporters in Dushanbe on July 27.

According to him, the projects targets more than 16 sectors of the country’s economy and the project portfolio includes loans (74 percent), grants (15.3 percent), government’s share (6.9 percent), and local investments (3.5 percent).

“The overall volume of funds drawn over the first six months of this year has amounted to 82.15 million somoni,” said the GosKomInvest head, “Over the report period, more than 1.2 billion somoni have arrived in the country, which is  75 million somoni more than in the same period last year.”

Saidov added that Tajikistan might have lost potential investors over the report period due to Uzbekistan’s blockade of rail traffic bound for Tajikistan.  “We cannot calculate what damage that blockade caused to Tajikistan’s investment market, but one thing is clear – when one investor bears losses because freight cars with his goods are being held up for months, it is natural that potential investor does not want to get in such difficulties,” he noted.

According to GosKomInvest, the largest foreign investors in Tajikistan are companies from China, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, and Russia.  China has become a key investor in the country, funding major infrastructure projects in Tajikistan.