BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The construction of the light rail transit (LRT) in Kazakhstan’s capital city Astana will continue and will be carried out by a Chinese company, Zhenis Kassymbek, Mayor of Astana, said, Trend reports, citing Kazakh media.
According to the mayor, the unnamed Chinese company was selected to continue the project, which was shelved several times in the past. He added that the company will choose the rolling stock.
Kassymbek noted that the project is set to be completed before the end of 2024.
Estimates suggest that the overall cost of the project is set to exceed $1.5 billion.
Earlier, the mayor said that advance payments for equipment and future trains that will operate on the LRT are being made.
The light rail transit construction was officially launched in July 2011, and the first line was supposed to be completed by the start of 2014. The work was postponed several times, including due to the lack of financing.
In 2013 the project was officially scrapped due to financial reasons, only to be brought back to life in 2015. The project was once again canceled in 2022, before being resurrected again recently.