The handover ceremony of the second part of the road maintenance equipment provided under Japan-funded “Project for Improvement of Equipment for Road Maintenance in Sughd Province and the Eastern Part of Khatlon Province” was held in Vose district of Khatlon province in Tajikistan on November 27, news.tj reports.
In addition to around 100 items of equipment, the Project has also constructed Asphalt and Stone-crushing Plants in Vose District for the Kulob area, according to press release issued by JICA Tajikistan Office.
Tajik Prime Minister, Mr. Qohir Rasoulzoda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Tajikistan, Mr. Hajime Kitaoka, Chief Representative of JICA in Tajikistan, Mr. Hideki Tanabe and other high ranking officials of Tajikistan Government attended the ceremony.
Rasoulzoda reportedly stressed the vital role that provided equipment can play at improving road conditions in rural areas. He mentioned that to get ready for the 30th anniversary of Independence of Tajikistan (in 2021), engineers will be able to upgrade rural and district roads. He also called for proper maintenance and operation of equipment and asked the Ministry of Transport to seek to provide trainings for engineers accordingly.
Japan’s Ambassador, for his part, stressed the importance of improving connectivity in Sughd province and in the eastern part of Khatlon province and expressed a hope that the project will contribute to solving road maintenance issues of the region which, in turn, is crucial for the improvement of regional network and livelihoods of the population.
The Grant Aid Project for provision of road maintenance equipment was implemented by the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan and funded by the Government of Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the amount of more than 17 million US dollars.
The main goal of the Project is to properly maintain roads, thereby contributing to efficiency of road transportation and logistics. In line with this, within the framework of the Project, 2 asphalt plants, 2 stone crushing plants were constructed and more than 200 different items of equipment were provided to State Enterprise for Transport Management of Kulob Region.
It is expected that the Project will contribute to: 1) improvement of the quality of roads and increasing of their life cycle by producing a mixture of cold and hot asphalt in and using suitable equipment for patching; 2) increase of cost efficiency and quality of work on the replacement of road surface by producing hot asphalt; and 3) reduce of the frequency of road closures due to emergency situations (flood and / or avalanche).
Tajikistan has about 30,000 kilometers of total road network with roughly 65% of freight transport and 99% of passenger transport depending on the road network. Maintenance of road is very important for the country to ensure smooth transportation. To this end, JICA has been supporting Tajikistan to improve its road maintenance through provision of equipment and conducting training courses to improve the capacity of road maintenance workers of Tajikistan.
Recall, the handover ceremony of the first part of the road maintenance equipment provided under the Japan-funded “Project for Improvement of Equipment for Road Maintenance in Sughd Province and the Eastern Part of Khatlon Province” was held in Bobojon-Ghafourov district of Sughd province on October 22 this year by attendance of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
JICA began its technical cooperation with Tajikistan in 1993 by inviting Tajik officials to gain knowledge and experience on governance and macroeconomics development. As of January 2018, a total number of participants to JICA’s Knowledge Co-Creation Programs, formerly called the Training Programs, has exceeded 2100 people. JICA Office was established in 2006 in Tajikistan and since then various Grant Financial Assistance and Technical Cooperation projects have been implemented more dynamically, aiming at improving living standard of Tajik people for the sectors such as agriculture and rural development, water supply, health, transport, energy, capacity building as well as SME promotion. JICA’s cumulative investment portfolio in Tajikistan in all sectors comprises 35 projects amounting to more than 349,6 million USD (82 million USD for Technical Cooperation and 267,6 million USD for Grant Assistance), including 13 on-going projects.