$10 million will be spent for Istiqlol tunnel

To complete all construction work of Istiqlol tunnel, it needed to be spent another 10 million dollar.

This was noted by the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon in his annual message to the country’s parliament, which is being held at the moment in the city of Dushanbe.

“Despite the fact that Istiqlol tunnel has been commissioned, work at this facility has not yet been completed. For reconstruction of the ventilation system and lighting of the tunnel, as well as the fact that Istiqlol fully met international standards, 10 million US dollars were allocated. With these funds, additional avalanche tunnels will also be built,” the head of state said.

It should be noted that the Anzob Tunnel or Istiqlol Tunnel – is the tunnel which connect the road between Dushanbe and Khujand  and it is more than 5 km long. It is located 80 km north part of Dushanbe. The design of the tunnel was carried out by specialists from Moscow Institute “Gidrospetsproekt” and design and survey institute of “Tajikgiprotransstroy “in the 1980s. Construction began in 1988, but was suspended in 1993 after the collapse of the USSR.

In 1999, Tajikistan resumed the work on tunneling, and since 2003, Iranian construction companies have been involved in this work. In 2003, Iran and Tajikistan signed an agreement on the construction of Istiqlol tunnel where the amount of financing amounted to $ 39 million. Out of these funds, $ 10 million is grant financing from the Iranian government, $ 7.8 million is the share of the Tajik government and $ 21.2 million is a loan of Iran. The official opening ceremony of the tunnel took place on July 26, 2006. Although the ceremony of putting this facility into operation took place in 2006, it is still being completed. For several years, repairs were carried out inside the tunnel to strengthen the permeability of the walls and partial repair of the highway. In 2015, Tajikistan and Iran allotted an additional $ 3 million for the completion of a blurred and broken highway inside the tunnel. It was officially commissioned on August 30, 2017.