Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Dec. 23
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
The high indices were reached in the road, rail and air transport facilities in January-November 2013, the Turkmen government said on Dec.23.
In particular, the dynamics of growth compared to the level of last year is as follows: the Ministries of Railway Transport - 103.5 percent, automobile - 146.4 percent, the Public Service of Maritime and River Transport - 104.4 percent, Turkmenistan Airlines - 107.3 percent.
Turkmenistan borders with Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan on land and with Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Iran in Caspian Sea. Regional transport projects have been activated in recent years; large-scale reconstruction of seaport in Turkmenbashi is being prepared, highways are being modernized.
In May 2013 the project for merging the railroads on Kazakh-Turkmen border was launched. This "North-South" project is implemented by two neighboring countries jointly with Iran. A trilateral intergovernmental agreement was signed in 2007.
At this stage, work is underway on connecting railway networks of Iran and Turkmenistan. On Dec.23, the Turkmen government also reported that the Bereket Etrek section with a length of 325 km "is a modern railway line with developed infrastructure and today works are carried out at 168 km."
This regional project will give European and Asian countries access to Central Asia and to Persian Gulf.
Moreover, the construction of another transport highway - "Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan" - has been launched. China, Kyrgyzstan and Iran may join it at later stages.
Regarding air traffic, the flight routes are expanding. Turkmenistan's national airline Turkmenhavayollari (Turkmen airlines) launched new flights to Paris on Dec.20, prepares for flights to Milan and creates conditions for flights from Ashgabat to Munich, Rome, as well as to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
Currently Turkmenhavayollari, in addition to domestic airlines has regular flights to dozens of cities around the world such as Moscow and London, Frankfurt and Birmingham, Bangkok and Delhi, Dubai and Minsk, Almaty, Istanbul and Kiev. The flight routes are constantly expanding. New flights also opened to St. Petersburg, Donetsk and Lviv.