ADB Road Will Lessen Isolation of Tajik Mountain Villages
For centuries, villages such as Urmetan have led a self-contained life in the mountains that divide Tajikistan’s north and south. The gravel roads that link them to the outside world are inaccessible in winter and are subject to landslides even in benign weather.
An Asian Development Bank mission traveling from the northern city of Khojand to the capital of Dushanbe in the south stayed a night at Urmetan, hosted by a village leader. We met several of the villagers, including artisans and those who tended a mosque steeped in history.
The isolation of villages like Urmetan should end in the not-too-distant future with the upgrading of mountain roads. The government plans to rehabilitate the road between Khojand and Dushanbe. For its part, ADB is helping to turn into an all-weather highway sections of the road between the border of Kyrgyz Republic and Dushanbe as part of a Central Asian regional road network. These improved roads will provide remote villages with better access to markets as well as health and education services.
Each thumbnail below links to a larger photograph. |
Regions and Countries 
Top of page
