TEM (Tajikistan), Nov 6: Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov, the Aga Khan, and Afghanistan’s Vice-President Hidayat Amin Arsala on Wednesday inaugurated the first of a series of bridges across the Pyanj River that will consolidate permanent overland links between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

The US$400,000 project, undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network, in collaboration with the two governments, will improve significantly the flow of aid, commerce and trade within Central Asia. It includes the construction of border posts at each end of the bridge, a link road on the Afghan side and a small marketplace on the Tajik side.

Thousands of residents on both sides of the river witnessed the historic occasion as the three leaders joined in a ceremony at the mid-point of the bridge between the two countries.

With a length of 135 metres along a single span, the longest suspension bridge joining the two countries will carry both commercial and passenger traffic. It will also connect hitherto inaccessible parts of Afghanistan to its northern neighbours. The only existing bridge linking the two countries is at Ishkoshim to the south-east which enables access into the remote Wakhan province.