Eurasianet: Bridge Connecting Tajikistan and Afghanistan Set to Open

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A major new piece in Central Asia’s expanding transportation grid -- a bridge across the Pyanj River connecting Tajikistan and Afghanistan -- is set to open in a few days. The United States, which supplied most of the funding and know-how for the project, hopes the bridge will promote regional stabilization.

The opening ceremony, currently scheduled to take place on August 26, "offers a new era of trade in the region," US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan said in an August 14 speech in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

In recent years, trade between Afghanistan and Tajikistan has depended upon sporadic ferry service across the Pyanj River, connecting the Tajik city of Nizhny Pyanj and Shir Khan Bandar on the Afghan side. The ferry’s relatively small size limited the number of trucks that could traverse the border to roughly 50 per day. In addition, the ferry is not operational for several months of the year due to hazardous currents, according to a 2005 statement issued by the US Embassy in Dushanbe.

According to Tajik and Afghan officials, the new bridge will allow for as many as 1,000 trucks a day to cross the border, greatly increasing the flow of goods between Central Asia and South Asia.

Construction on the $37-million span began almost two years ago. The span stands to especially benefit Tajikistan, where external trade has suffered from a lack of efficient and reliable overland trade routes. .

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav082107.shtml


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