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Road Rehabilitation in Tajikistan to Improve Market Access for the Poor

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (19 December 2003) - The national road heading northeast from Tajikistan's capital of Dushanbe to the Kyrgyz Republic, and onward to the People's Republic of China (PRC), will be improved through a US$15 million loan approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The project will improve economic opportunities for the poor in the Rasht Valley, where 91% of the population live in poverty, by reducing the cost of road transport and expanding access to markets and job opportunities.

The project, which follows a previous ADB road rehabilitation project linking Dushanbe with Khulyab and Kurgan-Tyube to the south, will continue ADB's program of rehabilitating the transport network, improving road maintenance and, most important, reducing poverty. The project will also facilitate national development and regional cooperation by rehabilitating the corridor connecting Afghanistan and Tajikistan to the PRC and other countries in the region.

In addition to the rehabilitation of the 140-kilometer (km) Dushanbe-Nurobod road section, the project will also improve 77 km of rural roads serving poor villages, improving access to the main road and thus to regional markets and Tajikistan's capital.

"Numerous agriculture and other poverty alleviation projects are being implemented in the project area, and by facilitating transport, the full economic potential of these projects can be realized," said Jeffrey Miller, an ADB Senior Project Economist.

The total project cost is $23.6 million, of which the Government is providing $2.6 million and the OPEC Fund $6 million. ADB's loan is from its concessionary Asian Development Fund, carrying a 32-year term, including a grace period of eight years. Interest is 1% per year during the grace period and 1.5% per year during the remainder.

A complementary $600,000 technical assistance (TA) grant will develop a strategy and system of maintenance for both national and secondary roads. The total TA cost is estimated at US$706,000, of which the Government is financing $106,000 equivalent.

The Ministry of Transport is the executing agency for both the loan and the TA. The project is due for completion in December 2007, while the TA will be implemented over two years, beginning in April 2005.

More at adb.org/media

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