Toll prices for the Dushanbe-Chanak highway will be raised beginning on January 1, 2022, says the Branch of Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) LTD in Tajikistan, which operates the toll on this highway.

The toll price for cars will be 89 somonis in cash (28-somoni increase) and 69 somonis in non-cash payment (14-somoni increase).       

The toll price for minivans, buses and trucks is raised by 43 somonis in cash and 29 somonis in non-cash payment.

The toll price for heavy trucks is raised by 46 somonis in cash and by 32 somonis in non-cash payment.  

Current toll prices are 55 somonis for cars, 167 somonis for minivans, 433 for buses and trucks, and 544 somonis for heavy trucks.  

Usually, the rise in fuel prices and shipping costs leads to increase in prices of basic food products such as wheat flour, bakery products, and dairy products, vegetable oil, and sugar.   

Flour mills of the southern part of Tajikistan do not cope with meeting the region’s requirements in wheat flour.  

Large flour mills operating in the northern province of Sughd provide supply wheat flour to Dushanbe, Khatlon province, the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and districts subordinate to the center.  

Current prices for a 50-kilogram sack of flour at Dushanbe’s bazaars fluctuate from 240 somonis to 265 somonis, depending on a flour grade.   

The rise in toll rates can lead to insignificant increase in flour prices in the country.  

A representative of one of Sughd-based flour mills says they do not plan to raise prices for their products, but logistics companies can raise shipping costs following the rise in toll rates.  

Even a 10-percent increase in shipping costs will raise the price of a 50-kilogram sack of flour by 10-20 somonis that will cost a pocket of an ordinary buyer,  

Expert say the rise in toll rate will lead to a 10-percent increase in prices of dairy products in Dushanbe, with similar price rises in other regions of the country.    

Recall, the Branch of Innovative Road Solutions (IRS) LTD in Tajikistan was permitted to operate the toll on the Dushanbe-Chanak highway.  A 354-kilometer toll road from Dushanbe to Chanak links Tajikistan’s capital with Uzbekistan through the northern province of Sughd.

The highway was upgraded by Chinese companies and paid for with a $280 million loan from China.  The Tajik government decided to permit IRS to operate the toll on the highway in order to repay the loan to China.  A toll has been collected for using the highway since April 1, 2010.

Six toll-collection points (plaza) now operate on the Dushanbe-Chanak highway.

The Branch of Innovative Road Solutions LTD in Tajikistan is an internationally held and managed company.  Innovative Road Solutions LTD was registered in British Virgin Islands in 2009.

A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or toll) is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the cost of road construction and maintenance.