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Anyone who travels in Kazakhstan needs a SUV in many regions. The government spent a lot of money for the rehabilitation in recent years. But still one third of the roads are worn and have a lot of road holes ore are only made from gravel or mud. Most of the local or regional roads are rough. The national roads are in a better shape and the road network is growing with the current project.
The main road projects of the Strategic Kazakhstan plan “Nurly Zhol” include the new route in the Western European- West China corridor, the Center West corridor, the Center East corridor, and the North -South corridor.
http://kazakhstan2050.com/nurly-zhol/
The overview and the map of all routes, you can find on the web page:
http://www.kazautozhol.kz/index.php/ru/dorogi/rekonstruktsiya
Road Corridor Western Europe – West China:
A very big road project from Korgos at the border of China via Almaty, Shymkent, Kyzylorda and Aktobe to Orenburg in Russia has been completed. According to the Ministry of transportation the 2,800km long route is now almost completed and open for traffic on Kazakh territory.
Only the 96km long route between Uzynagash and Otar and the 80km long route around Korday will be ready next year in 2019. On the territory of China, the road is already finish since 2011 along a 3,425km long streak.
Road Corridor Center West:
In the center west corridor, you’ll find the route from Astana via Arkalyk, Torgay, Irgis, Shalkar to Kondyagash. There is the connection to the route Aktöbe via Atyran to Astachen in Russia. After the construction of the missing sections, the journey from Astana to Aktobe is now 7 hours faster than before. It is planned to upgrade the route to Category 2 until 2021. The World Bank has approved a loan of just under $ 1 billion for the construction of the routes between Astana and Shalkar on 9 June 2016.
Road Corridor Center East:
In Kazakhstan, there is currently another major project running with an approximately 1,018km long route in the corridor Center East. The existing roads will be upgraded to category 1 and 2 standards by 2020. The traffic of the section between Astana to Pavlodar is more than 10,000 vehicles per day. The longest bridge in Central Asia between Aksu and Pavlodar over the Irtysh was finished after more than three years of construction in December 2016.
Road Corridor North-South:
In this Corridor there are a lot of open road projects. The approximately 1,288 km long route north-south runs from the capital Astana via Karagandy and Balkhash to Almaty. Individual sections are already built. The entire corridor should be completed by 2021 according to government information and correspond to category 1. With a total of 10,000 cars per day, the road is one of Kazakhstan's main transport routes. In perspective, an increase to 15,000 vehicles per day is expected. The EBRD and the World Bank are supporting the extension of the 228 km section from Kurty to Burylbytal. For the route Merke-Burylbaital (266 km, $ 298 million), according to government funding by the Exim Bank of China is provided. The AIIB could also contribute to the expansion. According to their own information, they are considering participating in the four-lane extension of the 660 km stretch from Karagandy to Burylbytal. However, the completion is not announced until the end of 2023.
