The road that goes over the mountain range through which the Anzob tunnel passes is closed for transport from November until March, when it is covered with meters of snow. Therefore, northern and southern Tajikistan are pretty much isolated from each other as soon as the bad weather starts. Travel from Dushanbe in the south to Khujand in the north, and vice versa, is only possible by air – which is far from safe, too expensive for many Tajiks and unsuitable for large cargo. This hinders trade. Of course, the easier route used in Soviet time is around the mountains, via Uzbekistan – which thus holds enormous leverage over Tajikistan – but Uzbek visas are hard to get by for Tajiks.

The Anzob tunnel will therefore be of tremendous importance for Tajikistan, making it less dependent on Uzbekistan. Just over 300 meters are left until the tunnel is completed. Completion is expected any time now, in spite of many delays. At the end of this year, in time for next winter, it is expected to be ready for traffic.

Construction of the project started in 2003. The main contractor of the project is an Iranian company, Sobir International, and Iran has invested US$31 million in it. Tajikistan received US$10m of this sum as a grant and the other US$21m as a credit. The total cost of the project is nearly US$110m.

The Anzob tunnel project has been planned a long time. It was first announced in Soviet times, with research starting in the early 1970s and construction 10 years later. But in 1987 the project was shelved – only to be taken up again by an independent Tajikistan in 1999. By then, it had become even more important to Tajikistan because traveling through Uzbekistan became more and more difficult due to political problems. The Anzob tunnel will now make traveling to and from the various parts of Tajikistan free from Uzbek interference.

However, for its international links, Tajikistan is still extremely dependent on Uzbekistan. But Dushanbe is hoping to diminish this as well, by building alternative transport links around Uzbekistan to the rest of the world. Such an approach is recommended also by international NGOs.

Tajikistan is hoping for the construction of a Jirgatal-Sarytash road, directly leading into Kyrgyzstan and skipping the Uzbek section of the Ferghana Valley through which the current main road from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan and beyond goes. According to Kyrgyz Prime Minister Felix Kulov in an interview with the Tajik newspaper “Kuryer” of 16 March, construction of this road has strategic importance for Kyrgyzstan also.

Such a road, together with the Anzob tunnel, makes year-round traveling from Almaty in Kazakhstan through Kyrgyzstan to Dushanbe in Tajikistan possible. And possibilities don’t end here. With American support, a bridge is being built over the border river between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, near the hamlet of Nizhniy Pyanj in Tajikistan and Sher Khan Bandar in Afghanistan. The bridge will be ready for use in mid-2007, allowing, in the words of a February press release from the US embassy in Dushanbe, for “increased commerce and people-to-people connections between the two countries.”

But if everything goes according to plan, the bridge, which will have brand-new customs and border guard facilities on both sides thanks to a US$7.75m American grant – will promote wider links between Central and South Asia, unhindered by an increasingly reclusive Uzbekistan. Or in the words of the press release: “The bridge is a key element of the infrastructure that will promote trade and commerce by road from Almaty to the international port at Karachi, Pakistan.”