DUSHANBE, April 1, 2016, Asia-Plus – Chinese company, Yuxinou, will be engaged in rehabilitating the Sughd section of Tajik railway, according to the Ministry of Transport (MoT).

An official source at MoT says this company has won the tender for implementation of the second phase of the transformative Central Asia Roads Links Program.  Besides Yuxinou, seven other Chinese companies have participated in the tender.     

The World Bank last year provided 45 million U.S. dollars to finance the second phase of the program, to be implemented in Tajikistan in 2015-2020.  The Government of Tajikistan provided co-financing in the amount of 9 million U.S. dollars.

The objective of this project is to increase transport connectivity between Tajikistan and neighboring countries along key cross-border road links in Sughd Province, and thus connect people and firms, markets and opportunities, regionally.

The Second Phase of the Central Asia Road Links Program – CARs-2 focuses on the rehabilitation of approximately 70 kilometers of cross-border road sections in Sughd Province connecting Tajikistan’s road network with that of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.  Specifically, the road sections to be rehabilitated include: Kuchkak-Kim-Isfara-Guliston border crossing (45.1 km), Dehmoi-Proletarsk-Madaniyat border crossing (16.9 km), including a link to the intermodal rail terminal in Proletarsk, and Kanibodom-Patar border crossing (5.7 km).

The Central Asia Road Links (CARs) Program is a collaborative regional, multi-phase program initiated by governments of Central Asia.  The program aims to increase transport connectivity between neighboring countries while supporting improvements in road operations and maintenance practices.   The first phase of the CARs, covering Kyrgyzstan, focuses on the rehabilitation of cross-border road links bordering Tajikistan in Batken Oblast.