Asphalting of the Zar road, which is connecting the Republic of South Ossetia with Russia and bypassing Georgian inhabited villages of RSO, temporarily controlled by Tbilisi, will be over at 1 November 2008. This was disclosed by the RSO Chairman of Government Yuri Morozov during his visit to asphalt plant at RSO Djava district.
«Asphalt plant is absolutely new. It was purchased by the contractor with whom we had made a contract for Zar bypass road asphalting. The length of Zar road is 36 km. And till 1 November the asphalt work will be completed»-stated Morozov.
The output capacity of the asphalt plant is about 2000 tons per 24 hours and it will be used not only for the asphalting of Zar road but for all road communications of South Ossetia. «In the Republic launched scaled road building. A hundreds of kilometers of roads are being constructing and rehabilitating. I consider it is an essential line of the Government’s activity-for without roads there will be neither economy, neither social sphere nor the communication between people»-mentioned the Prime Minister.
Yuri Morozov emphasized the destructive stand of Georgian side concerning this issue:
«Georgian side is annoyed by our activity in the question of road building. But the Ossetian population of the conflict zone faces the problem of passing through the Georgian enclaves and that is why we have to build bypass roads to avoid the humiliations while passing the Georgian inhabited villages»-said the RSO Government Chairman.
He also added that the Government of Republic focused on construction of the bypass road to Leningor district.
It is worth noting that the Zar road came into being at the end of 80-s during the Georgian aggression. At the beginning it was a pathway through the mountainous woodland at which the refugees from South Ossetia were escaping to Russia. In the beginning of 90-s the «road of life» has been improved and it became possible to pass it by car.
However, on 20 May 1992 Georgian band formations killed peaceful people-women, children and elderly persons. 33 people had died. In 2007 a memorial was set up at the place of the tragedy.
Georgian side presses for control over Zar road. It is a matter of principal at the sittings of the Joint Control Commission on the settlement of Georgian –Ossetian conflict. The South Ossetian side considers this claim cynic.
