පාමිර් අධිවේගය නිසා ටජිකිස්තානයට නව බලාපොරොත්තුවක්

Highway linking China, Tajikistan expected to revitalize Silk Road exchange, trade

Located at the crossroads of various civilizations, Tajikistan, a Central Asian country with a rich culture, remains as important an outpost for exchange and connectivity today as it did as part of the ancient Silk Road.

Somoni Square in the center of Dushanbe, the country's capital, marks the beginning of a route along a legendary 1,000-kilometer highway that has been part of the old Silk Road for millennia.

It is a highway that connects Tajikistan with China and is part of the age-old Pamir Highway. The former Soviet Union was the first to pave the historic trail, but it later fell into disrepair.

In 2009, the China Road Bridge Corporation (CRBC), one of China's largest construction companies, was commissioned to upgrade the road to modern standards. The plan is for the upgraded road to eventually connect with the Chinese border.

As the highway project extends eastwards from Dushanbe, it will face a major challenge - the Pamir mountains.

With difficult terrain and harsh weather, this region accounts for nearly 45 percent of the country's land mass but only two percent of its population.

"The high altitude results in permafrost year-round, posing a technical challenge for road construction. Additionally, the thin air at high altitudes presents health challenges for workers. Lastly, the Pamir is a very remote and underdeveloped area, where even power supply can be problematic," said Li Changwei, general manager at the CRBC's Tajikistan Office.

Building a high-quality road will be crucial if the region is to realize better development.

Meanwhile, China also has a lot to gain from the increased land trade connectivity with Tajikistan and, by extension, its neighboring states to the west.

Growing connectivity between the two countries has already had a perceptible impact. A reporter for China Global Television Network (CGTN) was taken by surprise when a stall owner in a remote bazaar in the country said he had been learning the Chinese language.

As China Global Television Network (CGTN) reporters visited a random remote bazaar, a stall owner said he's been learning the Chinese language.

"My Chinese name is Shanbo. Shan, like mountains [in Chinese]. Because in the future I want to be an interpreter," said the young man.

The ancient Silk Road has been upgraded, yet the underlying principle remains the same - fostering connectivity and facilitating trade and cultural exchange across vast distances, just as it did centuries ago.

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