Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan.13
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
The year 2013 produced great results for the car, railway and air transport enterprises of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen government reported on Jan.13.
The growth in freight traffic by all types of transport amounted to 11.4 percent, including 13.3 percent by car transport, 9.1 percent by air, and 15.9 percent by railway.
The growth rate in passenger traffic amounted to 105.7 percent in 2013.
The Turkmen government also reported that in 2013, over 180 kilometers of the Bereket-Etrek section of the North-South trans-national railway were constructed, 47 kilometers of internal railways were laid, and 150 kilometers were reconstructed, 813 freight cars and 58 passenger cars were purchased.
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. The North-South project is implemented by two neighboring countries jointly with Iran since 2007.
At this stage, work is underway on connecting railway networks of Iran and Turkmenistan. 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.
Translated by M.L.
Edited by C.N.