The Dushanbe-Bokhtar highway has deteriorated over the year

The Dushanbe-Bokhtar highway, which was opened at the end of 2021, is already damaged.

Photo: Internet

User Umida Shodmoni posted several photos of the Dushanbe-Bokhtar highway on her Facebook page. The photos show that the road is already partially damaged.

“The Ministry of Transport is covering the cracked layer of the road with bitumen to hide its shortcomings,” Umida writes.

Photo: Internet

“Who is the ministry deceiving? Does the government know about this problem? Why are other officials, who are supposed to check the quality of the roads, turning a blind eye to this?” she writes.

According to users, it was clear within the first few months after the opening of this highway that it was built poorly. For this reason, users are questioning why a road built for millions of dollars has deteriorated so quickly. Moreover, this road does not experience heavy snowfall and rain like the roads in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and other mountainous areas of Tajikistan. So why was the road built poorly? Where did the money go? Which authority conducted the inspection of the completed road? Who stole the money? Why is there no serious inspection?

“The main question is why this expensive project was executed poorly?” writes well-known Tajik journalist Rajabi Mirzo.

It was previously reported that on October 29, a ceremonial opening of the Dushanbe-Bokhtar highway took place, where the country’s president Emomali Rahmon inaugurated the first and second phases of this road after reconstruction and renovation. State media has repeatedly reported on the quality of this road.

The president’s press service noted that “the first phase of the project covers 33.2 km, as a result of its implementation, the road was upgraded from a third category to a first category ‘B’. The width of the road ranges from 16 to 25 meters.”

The president’s press service reports that the road was built at a cost of about 97 million dollars in the form of grants and loans from the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund, and more than 17 million dollars allocated by the Republic of Tajikistan.

It is noted that “the road was built with the participation of about 400 Tajik workers and specialists and 50 foreign specialists in accordance with international road standards.”

However, residents are questioning why the road is of such low quality, despite the enormous amount of money spent on its construction, and the project being implemented by domestic and foreign specialists.