TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan has chosen a new contractor to complete the reconstruction of the country’s strategic motor road running through the Kamchik mountain pass, Sputnik news agency reported.
The project was earlier implemented by Spanish company Corsan Cоrviam Construction, which concluded a contract with Uzbekistan in 2012. The Uzbek side later cancelled the contract, saying that the Spanish company had violated the technical parameters which led to a significant worsening of the road construction quality.
“The case of the Spanish company has been submitted to international court,” a representative of the National Road Fund of Uzbekistan told Sputnik. “It is a vitally important project for Uzbekistan. So it was decided to hold a new tender and choose another foreign contractor — Azerbaijan’s company Evrascon.”
The source said that the project must be completed within the shortest period of time, because this strategic road connects Uzbekistan’s mainland to three most densely-populated regions in the Uzbek part of the Fergana Valley. “Traveling through the [Kamchik] pass should be maximally safe and fast. The Azeri company plans to complete all works in the first half of 2017,” he said.
The total cost of the project to reconstruct the section between the 116th and 190th kilometer of the A-373 motor road Tashkent-Osh (Kyrgyzstan) is $210 million. The Asian Development Bank provided a loan of $167 million and the Uzbek government allocated over $44 million for the project.
The road through the Kamchik pass is the only motor road connecting the Uzbek part of densely-populated Fergana Valley to Uzbekistan’s mainland. More than 21 thousand vehicles pass through the Kamchik pass every day.
