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New Road Promised for Kyrgyzstan’s Highest Village

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan has announced a tender for the construction of a road to Kyrgyzstan's highest village of Zardaly in the Batken oblast. Authorities have set aside 389 million KGS ($4.5 million) for the construction of the 4.2 kilometer road and according to published data, bids will be accepted until October 22 this year. The village of Zardaly is located in the highlands on Kyrgyzstan's border with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. At present, only one narrow, stony road leads to the settlement, accessible only between May to October. With the onset of cold weather, snow makes it impossible to get to the village, and residents are cut off from the outside world. It should be noted that Zardaly lacks cellular communication, the recently installed internet only serves the local school, and there are significant problems with electricity. As a local proverb says, “If there is no urgent business - do not enter Zardaly." On the day prior to the announcement of the tender, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov visited Zardaly by helicopter.  Whilst there, he promised residents that a highway would be built in the village in spring 2025, after which electricity would be supplied. He also instructed the presidential administration to solve the issue of cellular communications in the region. In earlier complaints about the situation in the village, Kyrgyzstan's ombudsman said that although Zardaly became a village in 2016, residents still require help accessing medical services and quality education.

South Korea to Help Build Dry Ports in Uzbekistan’s Syrdarya and Jizzakh Regions

The Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan announced on October 2 that it had signed a Framework Agreement with the Port Investment Department of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of South Korea to jointly develop a feasibility study for the construction of dry ports and terminals in Uzbekistan’s Syrdarya and Jizzakh regions. According to the Uzbek ministry, the project will help improve the country's transport and logistics infrastructure. Creating inland terminals will be an important step towards increasing Uzbekistan's logistics independence and strengthening its role as the main logistics hub in Central Asia. The project is expected to significantly improve the country’s transport infrastructure and attract new investments to the Syrdarya and Jizzakh regions, supporting the goals of the "Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026." The project is scheduled for completion in September 2025. As one of only two double-landlocked countries in the world (the other being Liechtenstein), Uzbekistan has to ship its exports over long distances through other landlocked countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. In recent years, the government of Uzbekistan has made substantial progress in improving existing international transport corridors running through the country and in developing new corridors that will allow Uzbekistan to access the markets of the Eurasian Economic Union and European countries, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China.

Passenger Train Between Tashkent and Moscow Resumes

After a four-year break, the passenger train service on the Tashkent-Moscow-Tashkent route has resumed. The service reopened this week, with passenger trains now departing from Tashkent and back from Moscow once a week. The first Tashkent-Moscow train departed from Tashkent’s central railway station on September 24, and is scheduled to arrive at the Paveletsky railway station in Moscow on September 27. Passenger train service on the Bishkek-Moscow route will resume in 2025. The passenger train between Bishkek and Moscow has been out of operation since the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, trains from Bishkek and the Russian city of Samara resumed. Passenger trains to Moscow were temporarily suspended from Bishkek and other Eurasian countries due to a large-scale reconstruction of the Moscow railway junction that began after the pandemic. Relatively cheap railway service to Moscow (compared to air transport) is essential for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz and Uzbek labor migrants work in Russia.

Pakistan Joins Transport Corridor Between Indian Ocean and Eastern Europe

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport has announced that Pakistan has officially joined the memorandum of understanding on establishing and developing the international transport corridor "Belarus–Russia–Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–Indian Ocean." The Pakistani Ministry of Communications signed this memorandum on September 18. The process of creating this multimodal transport corridor began in August 2022, at a meeting between the Uzbek government and the Eurasian Economic Commission – the governing body of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union that also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In November 2023, the transport ministries of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding, launching the project's active phase of work. The group's first meeting on developing the proposed multimodal transport corridor was held in April 2024 in Termez, Uzbekistan. During that meeting, Belarus joined the memorandum, while Afghanistan and Pakistan announced the beginning of internal procedures for joining the project. At that meeting, a roadmap was signed, including specific plans for the development of cargo transportation, analysis of cargo flows, introduction of electronic digital documents, and optimization of customs procedures. The participating countries expect that the new corridor will become an important link in Eurasia's transport system, providing convenient and efficient routes for the transit of goods and strengthening economic cooperation.

Turkmenistan to Build New High-Speed Highway

The private company "Ojar Asia" has signed a contract with the Eurasian representative office of China's Sino Hydro Bureau 12 Co. Ltd., for the parties to jointly build the Serakhs-Mary-Serkhetabat highway in Turkmenistan. This road will have a length of about 450 kilometers. The highway will be an important element of the country's transport infrastructure, and will improve conditions for foreign trade, including the export of Turkmenistan's natural resources. More than $2 billion in investment from Sino Hydro Bureau will finance it, and Ojar Asia will lead the construction. Turkmenistan is developing road infrastructure to improve transportation links and stimulate its economy. Road projects are strategically important as the country plans to integrate the new highways into international East-West and North-South transportation corridors. This helps increase transit transportation and natural resource exports, which are vital in diversifying an economy traditionally dependent on hydrocarbon exports.

inDrive Poised to Open University in Kazakhstan and Environmental Project in Almaty

At a meeting on September 5 between Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Arsen Tomsky, Founder and CEO of inDrive, a California-based global transport and urban services platform, a proposal was mooted to open an "inVision U University" in Kazakhstan, providing training for 400 qualified specialists in IT, education, science, and art. The Prime Minister also pledged support for the company's plans to implement several environmental initiatives to improve air quality in megacities; the first of which will be implemented in Almaty. Last year, in collaboration with Astana Hub and regional IT hubs, inDrive launched "Beginit", a free international social leadership program across six regions in Kazakhstan to enable 10th-grade students to implement social projects from concept to realization. Founded in 2013 in Yakutia, Russia, and incorporated in the U.S. in 2018, inDrive is now available in 749 cities in 46 countries. In 2021, its market value was estimated at $1.2 billion. In 2022, the company pulled out of Russia, and relocated to Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2022 and again in 2023, inDrive was the second most downloaded ride-hailing app worldwide based on Google Play and App Store data. In addition to rides, inDrive offers a growing list of urban services, including intercity and freight transportation, handyman calls and courier delivery. In December 2023, Kazakh media reported that Arsen Tomsky had obtained Kazakhstani citizenship.