The Asian Development Bank will fund an additional US$20m for rehabilitation of Dushanbe-Vakhdat-Jirgital-Saritosh-Osh Road in Tajikistan.

The road connecting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan is a part of the transport corridor III under the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Program.

The project will focus on reducing transportation costs, boosting regional trade and cooperation, and also improving access to markets and social services.

Surplus traffic on the Dushanbe-Kyrgyz border road has led to premature deterioration of the road.

The additional funds will address the technical and financing gaps resulting from the premature deterioration, update previous assumptions, extend the economic life of the road and bolster the project’s development impacts.

The Government of Tajikistan will endorse $5m towards the $25m project, which will last 30 months and is expected to be completed by 2001.