EBRD and AIIB to help modernise key road in western Kazakhstan

• EBRD and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will each provide up to KZT 236.3 billion (€434.8 million) for road upgrades in Kazakhstan
• Project will help to develop sustainable transport connections in Central Asia
• Work will introduce advanced technologies and bring environmental benefits

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is continuing to develop sustainable transport connections in Central Asia by financing the upgrade and expansion of a key transport route in western Kazakhstan.

The Bank is providing a loan of up to KZT 236.3 billion (€434.8 million) in Japanese yen equivalent to help Kazakhstan’s state-owned national road operator QazAvtoZhol modernise a 234 km section of road between the cities of Aktobe and Ulgaisyn. It will be co-financed by a similar-sized parallel loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The work will transform the single-carriageway category-II road into a dual-carriageway category-I road, improving a stretch of strategically important motorway that is part of the Western Europe-Western China corridor, the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Corridor 1 and the European route E38. The route will help to establish Kazakhstan as a reliable gateway between Europe and Asia and will provide improved access to one of the world’s largest deposits of critical raw materials.

By financing this project, the EBRD and the AIIB are contributing to Kazakhstan’s national road programme, which is also supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.

Construction and maintenance of the road are expected to be delivered through design, build and maintain (DBM) contracts. Unlike the engineering, procurement and construction contracts typically used for such projects, DBM contracts introduce a lifecycle-based approach to road infrastructure planning.

The road will also be equipped with intelligent transport systems such as e-tolling, weigh-in-motion sensors and weather-forecasting equipment to enhance road safety and improve traffic management.

At the Investors Forum for EU-Central Asia Transport Connectivity in Brussels in 2024, the EBRD expressed its readiness to invest around €1.5 billion in Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor-related infrastructure and associated transport solutions over the next two to three years.

The EBRD has invested more than €11 billion across 340 projects in Kazakhstan, with most of the funds supporting private entrepreneurship.