12/12/2023: Kazakhstan has begun construction of a new railway line to Uzbekistan: the Darbaza – Maktaaral railway line will inc

Construction of Darbaza – Maktaaral railway line has begun in the Turkestan region. Its length will be 152 kilometers. The official start to construction work via teleconference was given by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov. The project is divided into two stages and envisages the opening of a new border-crossing point terminal the Kazakh-Uzbek state border. The length of the new section of the railway will be 106 km. The implementation of this project will relieve congestion at the Saryagash new border-crossing point terminal and will increase additional cargo traffic of up to 10 million tons per year. The construction of the highway will also create almost 3.5 thousand jobs in Kazakhstan and more than 1 thousand jobs in Uzbekistan. The share of Kazakhstani content in the project will be 85%. Alikhan Smailov emphasized that by the end of December, the volume of cargo transportation with Uzbekistan is projected at about 31 million tons. And this is 16% higher than last year. Let us remind you that this issue was discussed on February 22, 2023, when the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Marat Karabaev met with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan Saidikram Niyazkhodzhaev . The parties then discussed the implementation of industrial cooperation projects, expansion of cooperation in the field of industry, transport and the military-industrial complex. Marat Karabaev then said that in the field of industrial cooperation, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are implementing 42 joint projects worth $2.1 billion with the creation of more than 10 thousand jobs. Of these, 29 are on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 13 are in the Republic of Uzbekistan.