10.07.2024, 09:00 33741

Renovation and reconstruction of 12 thousand kilometres of roads planned for 2024

Renovation and reconstruction of 12 thousand kilometres of roads planned for 2024
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At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov the issue of development of the road industry was considered. The Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev reported on the implementation of projects in the sector, primeminister.kz reports.

In accordance with the instruction of the Head of State at the National Kurultai this year it is planned to repair and reconstruct 12 thousand kilometres of roads. In addition, it is instructed to complete several major projects, the implementation of which has been delayed.

As of today, the total length of motorways is 95 thousand kilometres, of which 25 thousand kilometres are the republican network and the remaining 70 thousand kilometres are local roads. The normative condition of the republican roads is 92 per cent, and that of the local network is 87 per cent. These indicators will be brought to 93 per cent and 89 per cent respectively by the end of the year.

This year, road repair and construction works will cover 12,000 kilometres. This is a record figure that has not been achieved before. Of these roads, 8 thousand kilometres belong to republican roads and 4 thousand kilometres to local roads," Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev said.


Construction and repair work will be completed on 7,000 kilometres by the end of the year. According to the plan, reconstruction work is underway on 4 road projects with a total length of 1,955 km, of which 1,866 km have already been opened with a new asphalt surface. 35 asphalt-concrete plants, 1656 units of machinery and 3.3 thousand workers are involved in the implementation of the projects.

For example, the Karaganda-Almaty road is 879 km long, of which asphalting is fully completed on 400 km, while the remaining sections are still under construction. More than 1 thousand units of road equipment and about 2 thousand workers are involved in this project. In July, this 83-km section will be completed ahead of schedule.

The Taldykorgan-Ust-Kamenogorsk motorway is 768 km long. The bottom layer of asphalt has been laid on 751 km, and the top layer - on 391 km. More than 700 units of road equipment and more than 1,000 workers are involved in the project. In July, 2 sections with a total length of 91 kilometres will be completed in the Zhetisu region. The rest of the project works will be completed in Abay region on the bypass road of Ayagoz city. In general, all works will be completed and handed over by the end of the year.

In addition, Atyrau-Astrakhan and Aktobe-Kandyagash projects with a total length of 368 kilometres are being implemented in the west of the country. As of today, 60 kilometres have been completed, asphalting has been fully completed on 102 kilometres, and the bottom layer of asphalt has been laid on 206 kilometres. 450 units of road equipment and 600 people are involved in the projects. These objects will be fully put into operation by the end of this year.

The Minister of Transport noted that there are two problems in the implementation of these projects. Firstly, the projects located in Karaganda, Zhambyl, Aktobe, Atyrau regions and Abay lack quotas for foreign labour force - about 500 people. Secondly, the procedure of buying out some land plots by akimats of Karaganda, East Kazakhstan, Almaty and Abai regions is delayed.

Several important projects are scheduled for completion this year.

The first project, the longest road tunnel in Kazakhstan, located at the Shakpak Baba Pass in Turkestan Oblast (840 metres), will be commissioned in July. The opening of the tunnel will allow drivers to travel unimpeded during the winter period.

The second project is a 6 km long road overpass at Shamalgan station, which has an important transit significance for the Almaty agglomeration, and will be opened in September.

The third project is the commissioning of the 262 km Merke-Burylbaital motorway connecting the central and northern regions of the country with the Western Europe-Western China corridor.

The fourth, a 1.3 kilometre long bridge over the Bukhtarma Reservoir in Eastern Kazakhstan, is scheduled for completion this year. The opening of the bridge will ensure safe traffic for residents who use the ferry in summer and travel on ice in winter.

The bridge will connect 4 districts of East Kazakhstan region. This historical project has been discussed for 60 years. Thanks to the relevant decision of the Head of State, the project is being realised and will be put into operation by the end of the year," Marat Karabayev said.


For the development of tourist zone Bokey Orda in Western Kazakhstan by the end of this year will be fully completed capital repair work on the roads "Kaztalovka - Zhanibek" and "Onege - Bisen - Saykyin" with a total length of 245 km.

The Minister of Transport said that previously funding was mainly directed to the development of international corridors and highways connecting regional centres. Inter-oblast republican roads were not covered by repair works for a long time. To radically solve this issue, large-scale projects covering 7,000 kilometres of republican roads have been launched.

This year, at the expense of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan began the average repair of 2.5 thousand kilometres of roads. Next year, work will continue on the remaining 4.5 thousand kilometres.

A new method of repair is applied, i.e. by strengthening the road surface by "recycling" method and laying 2 layers of asphalt. This technology makes it possible to reduce the cost of the project by 7 times compared to reconstruction and to repair the road 2 times faster.

These projects included the major roads Zhezkazgan - Petropavlovsk, Shalkar - Kandyagash, Karaganda - Karkaralinsk, Semey - Kainar and Semey - Barnaul, which have not been repaired for 20 years.

In connection with the completion of major projects to further improve the transit potential of the country, work is underway to prepare new projects. According to programme documents, 12 projects with a total length of 4.5 thousand km are planned to be implemented until 2029. At present, project documents are being prepared and financial sources and mechanisms for their attraction are being worked out. 3 of the above-mentioned projects are planned to start already this year.

The first one: "Karaganda-Zhezkazgan" project with a total length of 572 kilometres. This project will not only connect the 2 regional centres, but will also help to attract freight traffic from the north and east to the Trans-Caspian international transport route. Currently, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been identified as the source of financing for the project. Competitive procedures to identify contractors have begun.

The second one: the 262-km Aktobe-Ulgaisyn project, which has recently been criticised by users. This project is part of the Western Europe-Western China corridor. Due to the increased traffic in the corridor, the project involves the construction of a four-lane motorway. This year, construction work has started on 28 kilometres. Documents are being prepared for the remaining sections, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been identified as the source of financing. Tender procedures will start by the end of the month, and contracts will be signed by the end of the year.

The third one: a 102 km bypass road around Saryagash city. The new road will cover 2 districts of Turkestan region and will provide bypass for transit traffic around Saryagash, Abay, Kyzylasker and Amangeldy settlements. The project documents are ready, the Asian Development Bank has been identified as the source of financing. The main construction works will start next year.

Taking into account the experience of implementation of the projects in recent years and in order to increase the responsibility of contractors and designers, EPCM contracts and FIDIC principles are introduced in these projects with the support of international financial organisations. According to the terms of the contracts, the contracting company will design, build and maintain the facility itself for 7 years. The main advantage of this approach is the reduction of design and construction quality risks.

To attract local companies, the Ministry of Transport has prepared a number of proposals:

  • granting incentives to consortia established with the participation of Kazakhstani companies;
  • favouring companies with machinery concentrated in Kazakhstan;
  • availability of a Kazakhstani licence to carry out construction works;
  • availability of counter-guarantees of Kazakhstani banks when issuing bank guarantees.

These proposals are supported by international financial institutions and have been approved as the main requirements of the tender.

This will increase the capacity and experience of local companies and give them the opportunity to compete with international construction companies in the future," the Minister said.


The implementation of major projects in the road sector and the emergence of new roads with higher categories require road construction equipment in the appropriate volume. Today, the industry has a need for 6.8 thousand units of machinery, of which 5.7 thousand units are required for new projects. To meet the standard for road maintenance, 1.09 thousand units of machinery are required.

To solve this issue cardinally, together with the Ministry of Industry and Construction, work is being done to localise road construction equipment in the country.

Another serious problem is the maintenance of roads at a proper level. The maintenance of 25 thousand kilometres of roads of republican importance requires 80 billion tenge. Therefore, work on the introduction of toll roads will continue to relieve the budget. To date, the total length of toll roads is 3.2 thousand kilometres. At the end of last year, 30 billion tenge was collected from these roads. The funds were used for road maintenance, current repairs and purchase of equipment.

In order to maintain the roads that have undergone reconstruction at the normative level, this year it is planned to gradually introduce tolls on 11 sections with a length of more than 2 thousand kilometres.

Toll road tariffs in Kazakhstan are significantly lower compared to other countries. In this regard, the issue of increasing the current tariff by 20 per cent to fully recover maintenance costs is being considered. At the same time, appropriate incentives will be provided for local drivers. The main burden will be on transit vehicles passing through the country.

In recent years, special attention has been paid to improving the condition of local roads. In 2024, 331 billion tenge has been allocated to the local network, including 4,000 kilometres where repair and rehabilitation work is underway.

Since 2023, the relevant methodology for the average repair of local roads has been developed and sent to akimats through general transfers of the Ministry of National Economy. However, at present, at the end of the half-year there is a low rate of disbursement of funds in Aktobe, Turkestan regions and Ulytau. Given the large volume of investment in road construction, it is extremely important to maintain the constructed roads at the proper level.

In total, more than 450,000 trucks are registered in the country, of which 60,000 do not comply with the permitted transport volume of 25 tonnes.

This directly affects the destruction of the tracks. In this regard, appropriate legislative amendments have been developed to strengthen the responsibility of quarry owners to comply with the weight parameters, banning quarry dump trucks on public roads. These norms are planned to be introduced in the Majilis by September and subsequently put into effect from the beginning of 2025.

Work has begun on installing 220 automatic measuring stations for the movement of motor vehicles by the end of next year. The stations will register violations online and issue fines in the format of the Sergek programme.

A number of works are being carried out by the ministry in collaboration with the anti-corruption agency.

Earlier, the Agency conducted an external corruption risk analysis, which resulted in 28 recommendations that have been fully implemented. This year, a joint order was adopted and a new analysis was started. Also, the Agency has taken control of tender procedures for repair works," the Minister said.


In order to eliminate corruption risks in the road sector, the following measures are being taken:

  • a platform is being created to transfer the acceptance of completed works into electronic format;
  • the possibility of financing the quality centre from a single source and independent expertise of all road works is being considered;
  • in addition to the contractor, the responsibility of author's and technical supervision for road defects occurring during the warranty period is also legally fixed;
  • the requirement to carry out an expert examination of medium repair projects for all roads has been legally enshrined;
  • public activists, bloggers and representatives of non-governmental organisations are involved in receiving sites as part of the People's Control project.

There are also a number of major improvements being made to road legislation, including:

  • average vehicle speed for road safety has been introduced;
  • refusal to register for debt collection, vehicles in arrears on toll roads. In addition, the mechanism of arrest and removal of foreign vehicles in arrears from the country has been worked out;
  • the issue of imposing fines for overloading heavy trucks through an automated system has been resolved;
  • the process of automating fines for late payment of toll roads is being worked out;
  • simplification of the procedure for registration of quarries to ensure timely start of projects.

The issue of prompt introduction of the above legislative amendments, improvement of the condition, quality and extension of the life of roads in the country will be resolved. The Ministry in accordance with the instruction of the Head of State will take appropriate measures for timely and quality implementation of projects in the road sector," the speaker summarised.

 

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