Kazakhstan to turn 11,000 km of highways into toll roads by 2025

Seven sections of highways in Kazakhstan with a length of 5,800 kilometres became toll roads. These are four-lane roads of national significance of the first category in the directions of ‘Nur-Sultan-Pavlodar’, ‘Kapshagai-Taldykorgan’, ‘Taraz-Kainar’, ‘Shymkent-Taraz’, ‘Shymkent-Kyzylorda’, ‘Shymkent-Tashkent’ and ‘Shchuchinsk-Kokshetau’. The fares have remained unchanged since 2013. According to experts, they differ from the European fares. For example, truck drivers there pay five times more, and cars 20 times more. Previously, only four sections of domestic highways with a length of 682 kilometers were toll paying roads. Last year, fees amounted to 5.7 billion tenge (US$13.1 million), which were used for road maintenance. As part of the Nurly Zhol program, it is expected that another 11,000 kilometers of highways of national significance will be turned into toll roads by 2025.

Translation and editing by Assem Zhanmukhanova