Kazakhstan, Astana, April 1 / Trend, D. Mukhtarov /
It is planned to build and open 806 kilometers of the Western Europe-Western China international highway, the Minister of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan Askar Zhumagaliyev said during the Government Hour in the Majilis (lower chamber of parliament) of Kazakhstan.
"In 2013, construction will cover the remaining area of the Western Europe-Western China international transit corridor in Aktobe, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda and South Kazakhstan regions and 806 km of the international transport corridor will be put into operation," Zhumagaliev said.
According to Zhumagaliyev, the expected results of the project were achieved and traffic on 700 kilometers of the new road was opened in 2012 which provided reliable transport links to 121 localities. Safe and uninterrupted passage, according to him, is also provided through the construction of 24 rounds of large settlements and reconstruction of roads in the two dangerous passes.
In addition, according to Zhumagaliev, road construction work is being considered for 548 kilometers of new sites.
As previously reported, the Western Europe-Western China transcontinental road corridor is the main project of the sector. Its development is of interest to main trade partners of Kazakhstan. To date, intergovernmental memorandums have been signed with Russia, China and the EU.
Despite the global financial crisis, the agreement was reached to grant loans to Kazakhstan by the world's leading financial institutions. The World Bank has allocated 2.125 billion for the project through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This is the largest loan in the history of the bank issued to any country of the world. Given loans for the project from the Asian, the European and the Islamic Development Bank total $3.5 billion.
The total length of the St. Petersburg - Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan - Orenburg - Aktobe - Kyzylorda - Shymkent - Taraz - Kordai - Almaty - Khorgos - Urumchi - Lanzhou - Zhengzhou - Lianyungang corridor is 8445 kilometers. Of these, 2,233 kilometers pass through Russia, 2,787 kilometers - through Kazakhstan, 3,425 kilometers - through China.
2,452 kilometers of road is to be reconstructed in Kazakhstan. The cost of the Kazakh section of the project is 825.1 billion tenge. The sum will also cover the transition into the first technical category of the four-lane road with length of 1,390 kilometers (Kyzylorda - Turkestan - Shymkent - Taraz - Almaty - Khorgos). The remaining stretch of 1,062 kilometers will be transferred to the second technical category (Russian border - Martuk - Aktobe - Karabutak - Kyzylorda).