REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN KHATLON REGION

INVESTOR GUIDE 

The main factors for your success 

• Availability of state protection and guarantees of investors’ rights
• Socio-economic stability
• State policy on business support and cooperation with investors. Availability of tax and customs preferences for investors
• Availability of free economic zones for entrepreneurial activity on preferential terms
• Low labor costs and loyal immigration policies for a skilled workforce
• Well-developed infrastructure for doing business
• Availability of rich natural resources
• Located at the intersection of trade routes between Afghanistan, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan

Khatlon region: key facts 

Location:  – Republic of Tajikistan

Established:  – 1992

Territory:  – 24.6 thousand square meters. Km

Population: – 3425,0 thousand people

Town:  – 611,2 thousand people

Rural:  – 2813,8 thousand people

Economically active population: – 891,9  thousand people

Population density:  –  139.2 people per sq. km

Administrative center:  – Bokhtar city

Borders:

Climate:  –  Suptropical, continental

Rivers: –  Vakhsh, Panj,  Kysulsu, Yakhsu

Distance:  –  Dushanbe 100 km

Highways:  –   5424.6 km

Railways:  –  423.4 km

Airports:  –  in Bokhtar and Kulb

Geography

Khatlon region is one of the three regions of the Republic of Tajikistan. The region occupies 24.6 thousand square kilometers, which is 17% of the total area of Tajikistan. The region is located on the southern spurs of the Hisor-Alai, it has 4 cities, 21 administrative districts, 133 rural-type settlements and 22 urban-type settlements.

Cities of Khatlon region:   –  Bokhtar, Kulob, Nurek, Levakant

Khatlon Region

• Baljuvon region
• Vose district
• Dangara district
• Abdurahmoni Jomi district
• Dusti district
• Qubodiyon district
• Kushoniyon district
• Muminobod district
• Nosiri Khusrav district
• Panj district
• Jayhun district
• Jaloliddin Balkhi district
• Hamadoni district
• Shamsiddin Shohin district
• Temurmalik district
• Farkhor district
• Khovaling district
• Vakhsh district
• Khuroson district
• Shahrituz district
• Yovon district

From the south, the region borders with Afghanistan, from the north by the regions of republican subordination, from the east by the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, and from the west by Uzbekistan. The water bodies are represented by the main rivers – Vakhsh, Panj, Kofirnihan and Kyzyl-Su, as well as two large reservoirs – Muminobod and Selbur, which are used both for irrigation and as recreation areas. The climate of the Khatlon region is continental. Among other regions of the country, Khatlon is considered the hottest place in Tajikistan, in particular the Shahrituz and Nosiri Khusrav regions. Cities 4 districts 21 Rural settlements 133 Urban settlements 22 619 enterprises Winter in the plains of the Khatlon region is quite mild and the temperature reaches at least -20 degrees Celsius, and in the mountains up to -35. Summer in the plains is very hot and the air temperature reaches +50 degrees Celsius.

In the highlands, the population is mainly engaged in cattle breeding. In the lower mountainous regions, orchards, vineyards, cotton, vegetables, etc. are grown.

History

Khatlon region was formed in December 1992. The valleys of the region abound with fertile lands, where the population has been engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding for a long time. Over the millennia, powerful and rich states – Bactria, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, the Kushan kingdom, Tokharistan and others, which made a valuable contribution to the development of civilization and culture – arose and fell on these lands.

For the first time, the Tajik people acquired statehood at the end of the 9th – 10th centuries. In Central Asia, there was an independent Samanid state with its capital in Bukhara. Under the Samanids, the rapid development of crafts, trade, culture was observed, the process of the formation of the Tajik people was completed. During this period, the outstanding scientist and thinker Abuali ibn Sino (Avicenna), the poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam, the founder of Tajik poetry Abu Abdullo Rudaki, the greatest poet Firdausi with his famous heroic poem “Shahnameh”, lived and worked.

The administrative and historical center of the Khatlon region, the city of  Bokhtar, emerged approximately in the 7th century. The city is located in the upper part of the valley, in the center of a rich oasis.

Near the town of Bokhtar, on the banks of the Vakhsh River, there is an interesting historical site – the ruins of the Lagman settlement (X-XII centuries), where archaeologists discovered ancient water pipes, wells lined with bricks, fortress walls with towers. This city was a large settlement in ancient Bactria. Ajina-Teppa hill rises 12 km east of Bokhtar, where the remains of a Buddhist monastery of the 7th-8th centuries are preserved. (sanctuaries, cells, stupas, sculptures, wall paintings), including a 12-meter figure of the reclining Buddha.

Culture

Khatlon region is also a center of high culture. The Bokhtar Theater of Music and Satire named after V.I. A. Mukhammadjonov, as well as the state Khatlon regional museum “Avasto”, the Museum of History and Local Lore, the cinema named after Lohuti.

The culture of the region is an elegant and colorful oriental outlook. The period of flourishing of culture, development of science, literature, strengthening of state foundations falls on the reign of the Samanid dynasty, and especially of one of its most prominent representatives Ismail Somoni. Favorable conditions for the development of science and culture in Tajikistan became the soil on which the talent of a whole galaxy of great scientists, poets, statesmen flourished.

Education

Higher educational institutions of Khatlon region graduate specialists of a wide profile from power engineers with extended specialization to philologists, biologists, economists and technologists. Dangara State University supplies the labor market with specialists from practically all areas of agriculture, from veterinarians to hydropower engineers.

• The number of institutions of higher professional education – 6
• The number of institutions of secondary specialized education – 25

In 2020, 7080 specialists of higher professional education graduated in the region

Number of university students – 49656

The number of students of institutions of secondary vocational education – 28360

Services and tourism

Khatlon region is a unique tourist attraction, as it has a great cultural and historical heritage, distinctive culture, favorable geographical location, a variety of natural landscapes, recreational areas, flora and fauna.

There are three reserves on the territory of the region: “Sari Khosor” in the Baldzhuvan region, “Dashtijum” in the Sh. Shokhin region and “Tigrovaya Balka” in the Dusti region. On the territory of the region there are several tombs of the beginning of the seventh century, other historical sights such as “Childukhtaron” (Forty girls), madrasah – Khoja Mashhad and fortresses Kubod, Hulbuk, which belong to the X-XII centuries and many others.

Another attractive feature of the region for all guests and tourists is the local bazaars and local national cuisine – the historical value of the nation, as evidenced by the large presence of numerous catering establishments, the total turnover of which, including the services of restaurants and hotels in the Khatlon region in 2020 was 198 , 6 million somoni.

Despite this, there is a lack of developed retail space and entertainment centers, supermarkets, warehouses and logistics centers in the region, which may also arouse the interest of potential investors.

Ajina-Tepa – the name can be translated into Russian as “Devil’s Hill”, “Hill of Evil Power”) – a hill 12 km east of the city of Bokhtar, the administrative center of the Khatlon region in Tajikistan with the remains of a Buddhist monastery of the 6th-8th centuries.

Sari Khosor waterfall – considered one of the most beautiful places in Tajikistan where you can enjoy the wonders of the republic’s nature. The waterfall is located at an altitude of 2112 meters above sea level in the territory of the Baldzhuvan district of the Khatlon region of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The waterfall is included in the territory of the Botanical Garden “Sari Khosor” where you can meet a lot of wild animals and lizards, including the Wolf, Bear, Fox, Snake, Porcupine, Turtle, etc. By the way, it should be noted that the height of the waterfall is up to 57 meters. The weather in Sari Khosor is not very hot in summer and can reach + 38 + 40 degrees Celsius, and at night + 15-18 degrees, and this is only in June – July. In winter it is 15-20 degrees. The distance from the capital of Tajikistan to Sari Khosor reaches about 200-205 km.

Natural resources

The territory of the region is rich in deposits of gas, oil and rock salt. There are 50 deposits of various metals on the territory of the region. On the territory of Khatlon, many deposits of polychemical, rare and noble metals have been identified: zinc, lead, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, gold, silver, antimony, mercury, fluorspars, tin, uranium, bismuth, iron, manganese, sodium chloride, magnesium. There are deposits of coal, gas, oil, marble, building materials.

• The region explored oil fields with a total total reserve of 45.4 million tons: in the Vakhsh zone – 16.6 million tons and the Kulab zone – 28.8 million tons.
• The Vakhsh and Kulab zones contain over 27 deposits of loose gold, 13 of which are being actively developed.
• 4 deposits of a rare metal – strontium, whose salts are widely used in metallurgy, nuclear, chemical and pharmaceutical industries – have been explored in the region. The total reserves of ores containing strontium at the Chaltash, Daudyr, Chilkutan deposits will make it possible to create a large mining enterprise here with the production of 180 thousand tons of ore per year. Large lead-zinc manifestations have also been identified in this region. The forecast for the total reserves of the largest of them – Baldzhuvanskiy – 1.2 million tons of lead and 1.2 million tons of zinc.
• The main reserves of rock salt are concentrated in the south of the republic. The reserves of the Khoja-Mumin, Khoja-Sartez, Tanabchi, Samanchi deposits are estimated at tens of billions of tons.
• In Shakhrituz and Kabodiyensky districts, large reserves of raw materials for cement production with reserves of more than 200 million tons have been identified.
• Also in the Khatlon region, natural gas fields have been identified and are being developed in the regions of Baldzhuvan and Jaloliddin Balkhi
• Healing clay of Temurmalik region is used in sanatorium treatment
• Medicinal plants have also been identified in the region, one of which is ferula. There is a plant for the processing and production of medicinal herbs in the Bokhtar zone.