Reconstruction of the road that will bring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan closer to each other will be completed in one year

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon September 10, as part of a working trip to the north of the country, familiarized himself with the reconstruction of a road that leads to Uzbekistan.

Reconstruction of this road began in March 2023 and runs from the city of Kanibadam to Dehmoi village in Jabbor Rasulov District. The work is expected to be completed in one year. The road will connect Fergana Oblast with Tashkent Oblast of Uzbekistan through several northern districts of Tajikistan and will improve trade relations in the region.

To speed up construction, the road has been divided into four sections. One of those sections is near Kyrgyzstan's Leilek district, where border conflicts had been occurring before work began. However, Sughd Oblast authorities say they have reached an agreement on construction.

Muzaffar Tokhirov, head of the Sughd Oblast highway department, said: “There is a 9.3 kilometer-long section of the road that passes through the village of Khistevarz. As is known, in the past this area was under the administration of Bobojon Gafurov district and Kanibadam city. Now these roads have completely passed under the jurisdiction of Tajikistan, and also on the left side 20 meters of land have passed to us. All that remains is to sign the documents.

Kyrgyzstan's position on the issue is still unknown. Meanwhile, project initiators emphasize that the road is of international importance and that the reconstruction is being carried out with financial support from the World Bank and the Tajik government. The contractor of the project is the Chinese company China Railway. The road passes through four border districts of Sughd Oblast and is more than 50 kilometers long. Some sections of this deteriorating road are shared by residents of the two countries, which has repeatedly caused conflicts. On one side of the road is the jamoat of Khistevarz in Tajikistan, and on the other are the villages of Arka and Borborduk in Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan's Transport Ministry said this section of the road will also be completely reconstructed in the future.

Olim Ochilzoda, head of Sughd Oblast's Transport and Communications Department, said the road will be fully reconstructed, and materials for reconstruction have already been received.

The Ministry of Transport said at the start of the project that they hoped the project would complete the delimitation and demarcation of the border, which would remove obstacles to road construction. It is now claimed that the disputes have been resolved and the sections have been identified.

The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is 987 kilometers long, of which Tajik authorities say more than 94% has already been defined. Kyrgyz authorities have also repeatedly told the media that the work of the joint commission on the border is nearing completion.

Disputed areas in the border area occasionally give rise to conflicts that have escalated into armed clashes on more than one occasion. The disputed areas are mostly located in watersheds, pastures and lands that both sides consider their territories. Border clashes that occurred in April 2021 and September 2022 have resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries on both sides.

Reprinted from https://rus.ozodlik.org/