Tajik Builders Edged out by Foreign Labour

Construction is booming in Tajikistan, but local builders cannot find jobs as foreign companies moving into the market – many of them Chinese – prefer to import their own labour.

Analyst Mahmud Kenja says the Tajik building sector has been falling further and further behind, and now many companies cannot afford to invest in the latest technologies that would allow them to compete for contracts with foreign bidders.

The head of the government agency for construction, Abduvali Komilov, acknowledges there are problems with the labour force as well. “There’s a big problem right now with the shortage of qualified staff in the industry,” he said, adding that his agency had taken steps to provide better training through the Tajik Technological University.

The agency rejects allegations that some of the companies awarded contracts in Tajikistan have questionable track-records in their own countries, insisting that careful checks are carried out before they are granted permits to operate.

The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.