President orders allocation of 25 billion soums for new bridge in Alat district

The instruction was given at a meeting on the development of the Bukhara region. The initiative was put forward by the khokim of the Alat district, Nargiza Nematova: according to her, the current bridge, built around 1980, cannot cope with the load, as freight and passenger traffic along it has tripled. The new concrete bridge with a road, she stated, would serve a border trade zone and a logistics centre, while the preliminary cost of 25 billion soums was calculated using artificial intelligence. The president ordered the funds to be transferred "today or tomorrow."

On the same day, Minister of Transport Ilkhom Makhkamov, along with leaders of the Customs Committee and a number of other agencies, inspected the Olot customs post on the border with Turkmenistan. The press service of the Ministry of Transport reported that over 243,000 vehicles passed through the post between January and October 2026 — 2.3 times more than during the same months of 2022. It currently processes up to 1,200 vehicles per day in both directions.

The ministry proposes replacing the 1978 bridge across the Yomonjar canal, which connects the neutral zones of the two countries, with a new one featuring at least two lanes for trucks in each direction. Another proposal concerns ending the decoupling and swapping of semi-trailers, which was introduced by the Turkmen side during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Transport, feasibility studies have yet to be prepared for the initiatives, after which they will be submitted for high-level consideration. Gazeta.uz notes that it was not specified whether the 25 billion soums are earmarked specifically for the bridge over the Yomonjar.