Tajikistan's New All Weather Roads Cut Distances, Expand External Links

by Najam Abbas Ph.D (abbas@najam.td.silk.org), observer of developments in Central Asia

A top story on Tajikistan's media these days is the putting into operation of the Kulab-Kalaikhumb section of a highway which will not only reduce distances between the Southern and northern oblasts of the country with the center but will eventually link this land-locked country with China and Pakistan.

"The newly opened link will allow vehicular movement between distant oblasts the whole year long. It will also contribute towards bringing the Southern and northern oblasts of the country closer to the capital, Dushanbe. Thus making the opening an event of considerable economic, political and cultural significance," Rahim Masov, President of Tajikistan's Academy of Science said on TVT's prime time newscast on February 1.

Dubbing the event as a historical development. Masov pointed out that although "there were many major roads were built in the soviet era such as the Dushanbe-Khorog road and Dushanbe-Khujand, they didn't work during winter. Thus for up to six, seven months several oblasts of the country remained cut off from the center, but now the transfer of goods can take place in all four seasons." Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov participated in a special ceremony of despatching the first convoy of vehicles with food supplies from Kulab in Khatlon province to Kalaikhumb in Badakhshan. The event marks "expansion towards a direct exit to other Asian countries, said Rakhmonov speaking at the occasion on January 30.

Published at the Tajikistan Update on February 08, 1999