BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 28. Kazakhstan needs to complete the high-quality reconstruction of all road border checkpoints in 2027, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in his Address to the People of Kazakhstan, according to the presidential press service.
"We need to create a unified, modern and highly developed network of railways and roads that will connect all regions of Kazakhstan and strengthen the country's transit potential. This is a strategic task," he said.
Tokayev noted that cargo transportation through Kazakhstan increases every year, making further improvements to road infrastructure necessary, particularly in the northern regions.
"Therefore, we now need to begin expanding the Kokshetau-Petropavlovsk highway," he said.
The president also called for support for domestic road freight operators, noting that more than half of road transit through Kazakhstan is handled by foreign carriers. He said the government would take appropriate measures to address the issue.
The main goal, Tokayev said, is to strengthen the country's road infrastructure capacity and increase citizens' incomes.
He stressed the need to complete the reconstruction of all road border checkpoints next year, adding that progress on this work had been slow until recently.
"We face an urgent task: ensuring high-quality construction of all roads, both national and local," Tokayev said.
He criticized central and local executive bodies for shifting responsibility for road construction and allowing the issue to remain unresolved.
"Therefore, I instruct the Government, through the Ministry of Transport, to oversee all roads, whether national roads, which account for around 26% of the total, or local roads administered by akimats. Let me repeat: we need very high-quality roads. References to the quality of bitumen or crushed stone will not be accepted," Tokayev added.
