BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Overhaul of shipping locks underway in Kazakhstan’s East Kazakhstan region, Trend reports with reference to the press office of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development.
In particular, currently, the work is underway at the locks to repair concrete structural elements in chambers and water distribution galleries. By the end of the year, concrete restoration is planned at facilities on area of over 40,000 square meters.
The overhaul of locks is overseen within the framework of the Nurly Zhol State Program for Infrastructure Development for 2020-2025.
“Ust-Kamenogorsk, Bukhtarma and Shulba shipping locks are the main strategic objects of water transport in the Irtysh basin along with the Verkhne-Irtysh cascade of hydraulic structures, which contain over 50 million square kilometers of water in reservoirs,” the ministry said.
The implementation of the shipping locks overhaul is expected to minimize the risk of accidents at locks and provide end-to-end navigation on the Irtysh river.
Currently, the volume of freight traffic in the Irtysh basin is about 1.4 million tons of cargo, and in the future, taking into account the increase in bilateral traffic with Russia and China, freight traffic is to be increased by two times.
The Nurly Zhol State Infrastructure Development Program for 2020–2025 aims to create an efficient and competitive transport infrastructure, develop transit and transportation services, and improve the technological and institutional environment.
A total of 112 infrastructure projects totaling 5.5 trillion tenge ($13.3 billion) are to be implemented within the framework of the program until 2025.
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