scheduled to construct the 600-km highway in three phases: Ashgabat-Tejen by December 2020, Tejen-Mary by December 2022 and Mary-Turkmenabat by December 2023. As a result of delays due to financial shortfalls, the Ashgabat-Tejen phase is now scheduled for completion in September 2021. A sister project to link Türkmenbaşy and Ashgabat was suspended when the Turkish contractor, Polimeks, walked away from the project, reportedly because of non-payment. As of 29 January 2019, the Turkmen Automobile Roads state concern () was subordinated by presidential decree to the Ministry of Construction and Architecture, and responsibility for road construction and maintenance was shifted to provincial and municipal governments. Operation of motor coaches (buses) and taxicabs is the responsibility of the Automobile Services Agency () of the Ministry of Industry and Communication. Turkmenistan has one of the lowest gasoline prices in the world. In 2011 95-octane gasoline was priced at $0.72 per gallon ($0.19 per liter). As of March 2021, the state-controlled price was 1.50 manat per liter, or U.S. 43¢ per liter ($1.62 per gallon). Seaways Riverways The main inland waterways are the Amu Darya River, which runs along the northern border, and the Karakum Canal, which runs from east to west from the Amu Darya near the Afghanistan border through Mary and Ashgabat to Bereket. The official beginning of organized navigation on the Amu Darya occurred in 1873. Steamboats began plying the Amu Darya in 1888, with reassembly and launching of a Russian-built steamboat delivered to Çärjew in pieces. Navigation was hindered by the constantly shifting sandbars and islands that the river current formed and swept away. In 1917 there were on the Amu Darya between 20 and 50 self-propelled vessels and about 1500 boats. In 1923 the Central Asian Turkmenabat Shipping Company began providing services to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and 10 regions of Kazakhstan, and transported loads by water across 1500 kilometers. On August 15, 1992, the Turkmen River Shipping Company was established. In 2003, it was renamed State Concern Turkmen Riverways (Türkmenderýaýollary), but subsequently reverted to a state agency subordinate to a series of ministries. In February 2021 the production subsidiary of Türkmenderýaýollary was converted into an open joint-stock company. In the mid-20th century Soviet authorities began construction of the Karakum Canal. The first phase was approved in 1952, and construction began in 1954. By 1959 in the first phase the canal had connected the Amu Darya to the Murghab River.