 Strategically
important
transport infrastructure |
"All the Republic of Kazakhstan depends upon
the development of transport sector. You should
take into account that we have vast territory, long
distances to cover," Minister
of transport and communications, Mr. Nagmanov
said during the interview.
Kazakhstan's transport and communications include
pipelines, railways, motor, air, and waterway transport,
roads, conventional mail and telecommunications.
In 2001, the general use transport network in Kazakhstan
comprised 14,200 km of railroads, more than 85,000
km of roads and 4,400 km of inland waterways. There
are about 2000 transport companies. The major proportions
of large and medium companies (80% and 94%, respectively)
belong to the private sector.
At the current stage, Kazakhstan has stated major
priorities for public transportation policy among
them to form and develop a modern national transport
infrastructure, to develop the transport infrastructure
in the west region as a strategic region in Kazakh
economy. As well as to accelerate the integration
of the Kazakh transportation sector into the international
transportation system and develop the country's
transport potential. The next major goal is to improve
state regulation and the setting up of a competitive
environment.
Railway transportation in Kazakhstan plays the leading
role in long-distance cargo and passenger traffic,
accounting for more than 50% of the total national
traffic flow in general. "The priority of developing
transport sector is railway. We have more than 15
thousands kilometers of rail lines. All the regions
of Kazakhstan are connected through the railway
lines. Everyday trunk lines make more than 500 thousands
tons of cargo. We even transport oil by the railroads,"
Mr. Nagmanov said.
Under the laws, the main railway network is controlled
by the government and may not be privatised. This
network is available for general use throughout
the country. Other railways may be subjected to
private use and private ownership. "We have
a program on the reforming railway sector. It
foresees liberalization, establishing of private
sector. In this respect we take as an example
the North America and the European models of railway
companies development. The program includes accumulation
of the main trunk lines in the government fund,
at least partially. The reform will give us an
opportunity to create private companies with their
own rolling stock," Mr. Nagmanov said.
The National Railway Company of Kazakhstan was
founded to operate and own the main railway network.
According to the law, certain activities related
to railway transportation are subject to licensing,
with the compulsory certification of products
and services. Certificates issued by foreign states
may be valid in Kazakhstan, provided that they
are recognised by the state certification system.
It is expected in the nearest 2-3 years our to
attract around $1 mln. investments to this branch.
For the private companies the railway sector as
well as the reconstruction of new sea properties
and objects will be interesting. Kazakhstan has
several projects to construct new railway lines.
Now it is negotiating with some western companies
about the system "BOARD" (financing
of processes from constructing up to commissioning
of dig places). By the end of this year it is
expected the Law on Concessions to be approved
by the Kazakhstani government and in this respect
the investors might come to Republic and commission
their projects. The legislation allows transit
of private automobiles into the country. It is
a very prospective field of investments.
The development of international trade and tourism
has urged the establishment of efficient transportation
corridors in Eurasia. In this context, an important
role is being assumed by the Western Europe-Poland-Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan-China
transport route. At present, railway routes are
running along the Northern and Southern Branches
of the Trans-Asian Railway. The Central Transport
Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) has started
to take shape.
Taken into account the vastness of territory
of Kazakhstan, long distances, the next priority
in transport development of Kazakhstan is highways
sector. Within the last years the government has
increased drastically investments in the road
reconstruction and rehabilitation. Only in this
year $275 mln. spent on reconstruction and refurbishment
of roads; it is 40% more than in the last year.
In Kazakhstan, all roads are classified as either
national or local. Their lengths total, respectively,
18,800 km and 166,300 km, and internationally
significant roads total 12,400 km. The major portion
of international motor transportation is carried
out by shipping companies, using vehicles that
comply with all international standards.
The economy's need for the development of international
motor transport dictates the need for both the
preservation of the quality of roads and their
upgrading to international standards. "Kazakhstan
has a favorable market, which is open. At the
moment we are trying to explain this to our foreign
partners," General director of Universal
Motors, Mr. Badulin said. There are several competitors
in automobile market among which Universal Motors,
Toyota, Mercury, and many others.
"Toyota Tsusho in Japan had good forecasts
for Kazakhstan. At that time we had already invested
in Russia and Ukraine. We expected good business
in Kazakhstan too. Now we are satisfied with our
activities here. Economy of Kazakhstan is increasing,
becoming more and more liberal economy,"
the Chairman of the Board of Toyota Tsusho, Mr.
Cherednikov considers.
Many companies on consulting and services in transportation
began to appear in Kazakhstan. One company is specializing
in terminal services in station "Druzhba."
Another company is the first railway operator company
called "Transcom". The most perspective
company in this market is Transsystem company. The
company can provide transportation services from
Europe to Central Asia, from Central Asia to China,
from Russia to Iran. It collaborates very actively
with different ports such as ones on the Caspian
Sea, Black Sea Port, Baltic Sea Ports, Chinese and
Iranian Sea Port. |
"We
would like to become a global transport logistics
provider. We want to have infrastructure and railway
trucks. We want to be not only the freight forwarding
company but transportation company as well. We have
already started this process," Mr. Kaplan,
Managing director of Transsystem
said about perspectives.
The network of roads is much wider and more efficient
than the railway network. Based on the republic's
national network, the regional networks developed
are thus providing the regional centres with access
to the most remote areas.
The Republic of Kazakhstan is one of the littoral
states of the Caspian region, and has two seaports,
Aktau and Bautino.
The port of Aktau is located on the Mangyshlak peninsula,
on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. It operates
all the year round, and is the only seaport in the
country capable of handling international traffic
of dry cargoes, crude oil and oil products to Iran,
Baku, Astrakhan and Europe via the Volga-Don channel
and the Danube system. In recognition of the strategic
importance of Aktau, the Kazakh government has invested
in the port's reconstruction $20 million from its
own resources, and $54 million from a EBRD loan.
"Total amount of a rehabilitation project was
74 million Dollars, which was fulfilled in 1999.
The President of the Republic, Mr. Nazarbaev, personally
opened this Sea Port and
gave the beginning to it. Today the Port has facilities
for simultaneous service of three tanker two ferry
boats three dry cargo vessels. It also has total
90000 sq km in storage space as well as 6000 sq
km of Cabot area. It has also facilities for 8 million
tons of cargos every year and 1.5 million for dry
cargos," Director of Aktau commercial sea port,
Mr. Abylgazin said.
In September 2001, new ferry lines were launched
on the Caspian Sea, including Aktau-Noushahar (Iran),
Aktau-Baku and Aktau-Olya. The use of ferries will
make it possible to attract transit flows from Southeast
Asia and the Middle East, which are potentially
oriented towards Western Europe. With the commencement
of ferry transportation, the northern route of TRACECA
will take its final shape, and the port of Aktau
will play a key role in this project. The second
seaport, Bautino, has no railway access.
Kazakhstan's water transport is represented by nine
inland water transport companies. The principal
navigable river is the Irtysh, which handles the
major share of inland water transportation.
Virtually the whole of the country is linked by
air transport. A boom has been witnessed in the
development of the airways which link the new capital
with various regions, and in international flights.
The Kazakhstani government is developing a program,
by the end of this year it will be accepted and
approved by the government on development of civil
aviation.
Kazakhstan is long ahead of the other countries
in respect of liberalization process. It has more
than 500 private companies in this area.
The flagman national airline Air Kazakhstan is undergoing
restructure changes. Several private companies do
exist alongside with the national in the air market
of Kazakhstan. They are Air Astana, KLM airlines,
Turkish airlines, the franchise of British airways,
Lufthanza. KLM and Turkish airline are both planning
to open a daily flight to Kazakhstan, as a prove
of the developing air transport in the country.
It should be mentioned that Air Astana company the
first company with 50% share (Kazakhstan and Britain)
using Boeings, which meets international safety
standards.
"There have been many difficulties in the aviation
sector since break up of the Soviet Union. Sometimes
newly created airlines had only one airplane. In
general, the reputation of the aviation was not
of a high standard. Due to the poor standards, the
decision to create an airline of European standards
was made. This led to the creation of Air Astana,"
president of Air Astana, Mr. Paxton told.
Now the government trying to optimize the number
of air private companies in order to make them fewer
but so that they would meet the world standards
and requirements, taken into account experience
of the civil aviation in all the spheres.
The government of Kazakhstan has adopted the Programme
for Civil Aviation Development in 2000-2003, which
envisages the reconstruction of the landing strips
at the airports of Atyrau and Astana.The major airports
of the country are going to be reconstructed in
the nearest 3-4 years. They will meet the western
requirements to the construction. These are: airports
in Atyrau, Aktau, Aktobe, Zhezkazgan and Chymkent.
They are located on the way of transport corridors.
And the government account that every year they
will be able to make up to $70-80 mln. through these
itineraries for transit services.
International flights can be served by the airports
of Astana, Almaty, Atyrau, Aktobe, Karaganda, Kostanay,
Petropavlovsk, Taraz, Uralsk, Ust Kamenogorsk, Shymkent
and Pavlodar. Air cargo traffic totalled 14,400
tonnes in 2000.
Kazakhstan's air corridors are attractive to international
airlines that have flights connecting Europe and
Southeast Asia, since they permit a considerable
reduction in the route length. Accordingly, there
is high demand for the use of Kazakhstan's air space.
Therefore, efforts are under way to provide air
routes with up-to-date equipment for air traffic
control, navigation and communications. The system
of air traffic control is being revised and optimised,
and a number of new transit routes are under consideration.
"We hope that our market will be promoted and
it will be developing. I have said that such companies
are coming to us. It means that we have our own
market and that our market is already in place.
The fact that they displayed their interest to us
supports this claim. Not a single company will come
if there is no an established market. These companies
come here because they can make money and they do
it here," Minister of transport and communications,
Mr. Nagmanov, said. |
