Iran to complete Istiqlol tunnel by next year
21 May 2014Caretaker of the Iranian embassy in Dushanbe, Seyed Mahmoud Sadri has announced that Iran would complete Tajikistan's strategic Istiqlol (“independence”) road tunnel by the next Iranian year, which begins on 21 March 2015.
"During the recent visit of Tajik Transport Minister Khayrullo Asoev to Tehran and his meetings with senior Iranian officials about final work on the tunnel, the two sides agreed that Iranian experts resolve the problems of the project in several phases; on the same basis we hope to accomplish the project by next year," Sadri told Iran's Fars News Agency on 7 May 2014.
In April 2013, Iran and Tajikistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to complete the strategic tunnel in the Central Asian country.
The spokesperson for the lower house of Tajikistan's parliament Muhammadato Sultanov told reporters at the time that the agreement had been signed by the two countries to complete the 5km long Anzob tunnel, located 80km northwest of Tajikistan's capital city, Dushanbe.
The tunnel connects the Tajik capital to the country's second largest city, Khujand, travel to which, prior to the tunnel's construction, required travelers to cross the border into Uzbekistan in order to travel between the two cities. It is also a transit route between Dushanbe and Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent. Prior to construction of the tunnel, especially during winter, the danger of year-round avalanches led to periodic disruptions of commerce.
