ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 5. Kazakhstan wants to increase the transit of goods through its territory to 35 million tons by 2023, Trend reports.
The figure is reflected in the Concept for the Development of Transport and Logistics Potential of Kazakhstan.
Due to the global redistribution of cargo traffic, the load on the infrastructure of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or Middle Corridor) and the North-South corridor (on the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran route) has increased, which in turn made it possible to identify bottlenecks. Therefore, work is now underway to develop alternative transport corridors.
In November 2022, representatives of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye signed a Road Map to simultaneously eliminate these bottlenecks and develop the TITR until 2027. And in August 2023, an updated version of the documents was presented.
The joint development of transport corridors and transit potential also was discussed during the official visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov to Georgia in June 2023.
In addition, work is underway to develop a comprehensive plan for the development of maritime infrastructure, including the formation of the port of Kuryk as a full-fledged logistics cluster.
Measures have also been taken to implement a number of infrastructure projects. In particular, last year, the construction of second tracks began on the Dostyk-Moyynty railway section. Due to this, the throughput of the section will increase up to 5 times and the volume of transit traffic between China and Europe.
At the stage of adjusting the design and estimate documentation for the project for the construction of the bypass railway line of the Almaty station. Due to its implementation, the Almaty hub will be unloaded by 40 percent, and cargo delivery time will be reduced to 24 hours.
It is also planned to build a new Darbazam-Maktaaral railway line between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Thanks to this, it is possible to relieve congestion at the Saryagash station, connect the Maktaaral region with the main railway network, and also expand transit potential and access to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
To relieve congestion at the Dostyk and Altynkol border railway stations, as well as to increase capacity between China and Kazakhstan, it is planned to build the Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line.
A “container hub” is being created in the seaport of Aktau in the Caspian Sea with a capacity of up to 300,000 twenty-foot equivalent. In the port of Kuryk, the Kazakh company Semurg Invest began construction of the Sarzha multifunctional terminal.
In addition, for the development of Trans-Caspian routes, it is planned to create a domestic shipbuilding production in the Caspian Sea. By 2030, Kazakhstan intends to expand the ferry fleet and increase the tanker fleet.