...

Kazakhstan presents draft state programme on transport infrastructure development by 2020

Kazakhstan Materials 28 November 2013 16:22 (UTC +04:00)
Kazakh Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Zhumagaliyev presented the draft state programme on transport infrastructure development until 2020 at a government meeting on Tuesday.
Kazakhstan presents draft state programme on transport infrastructure development by 2020

Astana, Kazakhstan, Nov. 28
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:

Kazakh Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Zhumagaliyev presented the draft state programme on transport infrastructure development until 2020 at a government meeting on Tuesday.

"According to the draft state programme, it is planned to repair 30,000 kilometres of roads, 8202 kilometres of railway lines, to conduct an overhaul of all railway stations, as well as take a number of other measures aimed at the development of the transport infrastructure of the country until 2020," Zhumagaliyev said.

"In particular, regarding the development of the road network, around 4500 kilometres of the Republican roads will be transferred to the first technical category by 2020 to improve traffic safety. This means the number of Republican roads in good and satisfactory condition will stand at 89 per cent. Roads in the direction of Centre -South, Centre- East and Centre- West, as well as the international Western Europe - Western China corridor is among them."

According to Zhumagaliyev, along with the repair and construction of roads, the programme pays attention to the development of roadside services and passenger transportation infrastructure. In particular, it is planned to build 260 roadside service facilities (31 facilities - through the Republican budget and the rest - private investments) until 2020. Nine bus terminals, 45 bus stations, 155 service points and 1048 taxi ranks (1138 facilities) will be built for the development of passenger transportation infrastructure in the regions.

"The programme also includes measures to increase regular bus routes," Zhumagaliyev said. "It should be stressed that currently 75 per cent of villages with over 100 people are regularly provided with buses. Meanwhile, it is planned to fully provide buses by opening 300 additional routes by 2020. It is also planned to bring all bus terminals and bus stations in accordance with the requirements of national standards."

When coming to the development of the railway industry, the minister said the construction of the Zhezkazgan Beyneu and Arkalyk-Shubarkol railway lines is continuing in Kazakhstan. In addition, in order to offload Almaty railway junction from transit cargo it is planned to build a line section from Zhetygen station to Kazybek-Bek station bypassing the Almaty station on the principle of public-private partnership in 2015-2017. Generally, it is expected that the status of some 81 per cent of the railways will be assessed as good and 19 per cent as satisfactory by 2020. In addition, it is planned to upgrade around 650 locomotives, over 20,000 freight cars and 1138 passenger carriages due to the shortage of railway rolling stock. Additionally, according to the programme, it is planned to overhaul all 302 railway stations in the country by 2020.

Meanwhile, according to Zhumagaliyev, within the development of the country's airport network, some 11 of 18 existing airports will be reconstructed. In particular, it is planned to reconstruct runways and passenger terminals in five of them and to reconstruct only passenger terminals in six of them. Moreover, around 75 new international air routes will be opened by 2020.

Within the programme it is planned to further develop the water transport infrastructure till 2020. Particularly, a project for expansion of Aktau port's capacity is currently being implemented. Within this project it is planned to construct three dry-cargo terminals. As a result, the capacity of Aktau port will increase from 16.8 million tons to 20.5 million tons per year," he said.

The draft state programme was worked out on the decree of the Kazakh president and is the first large scale development plan for transport infrastructure and its integration into the global transport system. The project was worked out with the support of the World Bank (WB). Currently, the programme has been agreed with all interested state and local executive bodies and associations.

Tags:
Latest

Latest