DUSHANBE, August 25, Asia-Plus -- The construction of the Shar-Shar tunnel on the highway from Dushanbe to Kulob will officially commence in September this year, according to information from the Ministry of Transport.  

The source says construction of the Shar-Shar tunnel is part of plans to improve road communications between Dushanbe, the southern city of Kulob, Darvoz, Khorog and the Karakarum Highway in China. 

The tender for the construction of this tunnel was held in China and China’s railway-engineering corporation won it and Beijing offered Tajikistan grants and loan to fund this project.  

Ms. Manzura Rustamova, an official with the Ministry of Transport has told Asia-Plus that a volume of offered investments is still unknown but it is already known that China’s specialists will build the tunnel without participation of Tajikistan.  

“In near future, Chinese specialists will arrive in Tajikistan to study a place for the construction of the tunnel and calculate all expenditures on the construction,” Mr. Rustamova noted.   

We will recall that according to a project submitted to the Committee for Construction and Architecture in March this year, a budget for the construction of a 2.2-kilometer Shar-Shar tunnel was estimated at US$38 million, and it was supposed to be finished in 38 months.