A wide range of topical issues of transport industry development was discussed at the meeting in the Government under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov. 

Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev reported that today 13 international transport corridors have been formed and are functioning in the republic: 5 railroad and 8 automobile. For 10 months the volume of transit transportations by rail increased by 19% to 22.5 million tons of cargo, by road transport by 17% to 3.4 million tons.

Reconstruction and repair of 10.7 thousand kilometers of highways are covered this year. In particular, traffic has already been opened on some projects of 5 years ago. These are sections Karaganda - Almaty, Taldykorgan - Ust-Kamenogorsk, Atyrau - Astrakhan, Merke - Burylbaital. Their full completion is planned for 2024, with 856 kilometers put into operation this year. 

In general, in the coming years the task of reconstruction of 4.7 thousand kilometers of republican highways (13 priority projects) is set. At the same time, a list of main regional roads of 4.3 thousand kilometers, where there are complaints from the population, has been worked out for repair. 

As of today, the republican network is fully covered by quality expertise. During the current construction season 9 thousand samples were tested, of which 2 thousand did not meet the standards. All discrepancies have been eliminated at the expense of contractor organizations' own funds.

The Minister also reported on the main measures to strengthen technical supervision, ensure the safety of roads, modernization of border checkpoints, development of the mainline railway network, renewal of the locomotive fleet and increase the capacity of junction points. 

In addition, information was provided on the development of the Trans-Caspian international transport route and seaports on the Caspian Sea, plans to create a multimodal transit corridor Russia - Kazakhstan - China using the transboundary Irtysh River, as well as the main steps in the field of air transport, including the creation of air transit hubs in Kazakhstan.

During the discussion, Prime Minister outlined the need to systematically increase domestic production of bitumen for road works and to take into account the available volumes in advance when preparing new projects, as well as to switch to higher quality materials and automate transport control through new digital solutions. 

"Systems with video surveillance allow us to effectively monitor the safety of the roadbed. We are building new roads, and heavy-duty vehicles drive overweight on them. There are such facts in the regions: cars weighing 40 tons and more drive. Such a car will drive for a few months and the new road will be finished. Regional Akimats should pay the closest attention to this issue," Alikhan Smailov said.

In addition, he pointed out the importance of application of offteik-contracts by industry quasi-state companies (Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Kazavtozhol, etc.) to support domestic producers and increase the number of state grants for training of relevant specialists. 

Prime Minister reminded that the Head of State had set a clear task to bring the share of the transport industry in GDP to 9%. Therefore, it is required to remove all the constraints to the development of transport and transit potential of the republic. 

"One of the main barriers of the industry is protracted administrative procedures at the border and airports. Here, too, we must work. We have agreements with neighboring countries on integration of information systems so that we could build one logistics chain along the entire Middle Corridor," Alikhan Smailov noted. 

According to him, the quality of road construction works is a separate issue. In particular, Karaganda, Almaty and Akmola regions have not yet provided 100% quality expertise of the local road network. 

"In addition, some regions carry out construction and installation works without control by technical supervision. Contracts with technical supervision are concluded late or not concluded at all. This directly affects the quality of work," Prime Minister pointed out.

Prime Minister also emphasized the need to build up the potential of the domestic industry. It should cover the main needs of the transportation industry, from bitumen and rail production to diesel locomotives and heavy-duty trucks.

"For this purpose, the ministries of transport and industry, Samruk-Kazyna JSC need to build clear plans for the development of industry, taking into account the needs of the transport industry," he said. 

In conclusion, Alikhan Smailov instructed to take measures to ensure the construction of ferries on the Caspian Sea from 2024, to work out the issues of regulation of strategic access roads, to consider the establishment of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Development, to ensure the reservation of land for infrastructure road and railway projects, etc. 

"Given that the development of the transportation industry is a top priority, we will periodically consider all these issues at Government sessions. The industry is rapidly expanding, we have a great growth in demand for transportation services. It is necessary to take all necessary measures to timely build up the relevant capacity of our country," Prime Minister summarized.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Industry #Transport