Thirteen new routes opened by Kazakh and foreign air carriers since early 2018 — Kassymbek on implementation of Nurly Zhol

Minister for Investments and Development Zhenis Kassymbek, reporting on the implementation of the Nurly Zhol State Infrastructure Development Program, said that in the road industry, the state program provides for the construction and reconstruction of 7,000 km, repair of 10,000 km of republican roads.

“At the expense of the allocated funds, 2,400 km were built and reconstructed, 7,500 km of roads of republican importance were repaired. Over 100,000 jobs were created at all sites, the share of domestically produced materials was about 95%,” Kassymbek reported.

In particular, along with the Center-South corridor, the Astana – Temirtau section was completed, the Temirtau – Karaganda section and the Karaganda round will be completed in 2019. The work in 2018 has begun on the Karaganda – Balkhash – Burybaital – Kurty sections, and from 2019 on the Kurty – Kapshagai section.

On the Center-East corridor, Kassymbek said that the movement of a new covering on the Astana-Pavlodar section is practically open. On the sections, Pavlodar – Semey, and Semey – Kalbatau, all the sections, except for the exit from Pavlodar, have been completed. Completion of this project is scheduled for 2019.

Along the Center-West corridor, the work on the Kandyagash – Makat section is being carried out, in 2018 construction has begun on the Atyrau – Astrakhan, and Kandyagash – Aktobe sections, and the rest of the sections will start in 2019. Work is also underway on the Kostanai – Denisovka site. Fully corridor will be completed in 2020.

In general, according to the Ministry for Investments and Development, all initiated projects will be completed in 2019-2020.

“Following the 2018 results, it is planned to open a movement on 528 km. Thus, the projects Uralsk – Kamenka, the bypass of the settlement of Korday, Beineu – Aktau and Balpykbi – Taldykorgan and the bypass of Sarkand are completed,” Kassymbek said.

On the development of toll roads, it was noted that in October 2018, the Toll Collection Systems were launched in the Almaty – Kapshagai, Almaty – Khorgos and Astana – Temirtau sections, which are currently integrated with the systems of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is scheduled to start collecting fees in the second half of January 2019.

In addition, design estimates are under development to set up a Toll Collection System for 5,900 km, including on the international corridor Western Europe – Western China. Installation of the systems is planned for 2019. In general, in 2020 about 6,600 km will be charged.

Also in December, the ministry plans to announce a tender for the construction of bypasses of Shymkent and Saryagash and the reconstruction of the section from Saryagash to the border of Uzbekistan on a concession basis. Construction work is scheduled for 2020.

“In pursuance of the instructions of the Head of State, in 2018 financing of the local network’s roads was increased to 156 billion tenge on a parity basis, which made it possible to cover more than 4,000 km of local roads,” Kassymbek said.

In the three-year period, the annual amount of funding is maintained at a level not lower than 150 billion tenge, with coverage of repair work up to 5,000 kilometers per year. These measures will create up to 10,000 additional jobs. Such rates will be maintained in subsequent years. This will allow repairing about 30,000 km by 2025 and improve the condition of 85% of local roads.

In the field of water transport, measures have been taken to develop the Kuryk seaport. A railway terminal with a capacity of 4 million tons was built, and in 2018, a 2 million tonne automobile communication was launched. As a result, the throughput capacity of the seaports of Aktau and Kuryk was increased from 19.5 million tons to 25.5 million tons.

“Today, more than 23,000 carriages and cars or about 3 million tons of cargo have been transshipped through the new ferry terminals of the Kuryk port within the international trans-Caspian route. The share of Kazakhstan in the sea transportation of goods in the Caspian Sea today is about 37%,” Kassymbek reported.

After the implementation of infrastructure projects within the framework of the Nurly Zhol state program, the total volume of container traffic through Kazakhstan is steadily increasing. Within the framework of the state program in 2018, transportation of 536 thousand transit containers in twenty-foot equivalent is planned in all directions.

"For 10 months 2018, the volume of container traffic through Kazakhstan amounted to 411,500 containers in twenty-foot equivalent, which is 49% more compared to the same period 2017. In the direction of China – Europe – China for 10 months 2018 this figure was 235,500 containers in twenty feet equivalent, which is 54% more compared to the same period 2017. At the end of the year, the plan is expected to be fulfilled,” said Kassymbek.

As for civil aviation, positive growth rates remain in 2018. In January – October, 6.7 million people were transported by air, which is 9.6% more than the same period 2017. Kazakh airports for 10 months 2018 served 12.7 million people, which is 6% more than the same period in 2017.

The volume of transit flights in 2017 amounted to 175.2 million km. For the period January – October 2018, the growth of air transit is observed by 4% compared to the same period in 2017. The number of transit passengers in January – October 2018 amounted to 764,442 people, which is 47% more than the same period 2017. According to the ministry, by the end of 2018, this number will exceed 1 million people.

Since early 2018, Kazakh and foreign carriers have opened 13 new routes: from Helsinki to Astana, from Astana to Vilnius, Kazan, Sochi, Chelyabinsk, Krasnodar, Tyumen, Tomsk. From Riga and Krasnoyarsk to Almaty, from Atyrau to Frankfurt, from Moscow to Kyzylorda and from Novosibirsk to Pavlodar.

Work continues on the implementation of the project for the reconstruction of the runway, taxiway and airport terminal of Semey Airport. Completion is planned before the end of 2018. At the same time, the reconstruction of the runway of the airport in Kostanay with the completion date in 2019 has begun in 2018.

On modernization of heat, water supply, and drainage systems, in order to reduce the burden on the budget, mechanisms of crediting and subsidizing have been implemented. For the period 2015–2018 for the implementation of 404 projects, 230.1 billion tenge were allocated, of which 195.5 billion tenge was mastered by natural monopolies. It is planned to build and reconstruct 3,478.6 km of heat, water and wastewater networks, 29 boiler houses and 95 units of other facilities. In general, during the implementation of the state program from 2015 to 2018, 2,982 km of heat, water supply and drainage networks, 24 boiler houses, 71 other facilities were built and reconstructed. Total for the period 2018–2019 it is planned to build and reconstruct about 290.6 km.

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