Kazakhstan Looks To Spend $24B On Roads, Infrastructure To Connect Country And Revive Economy

Astana, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Photo courtesy of Dmitry Chistoprudova, RU Photo Agency

Kazakhstan will launch a new multi-billion dollar program to construct new roads and infrastructure that will connect the world’s largest landlocked country and to help revive an economy that has suffered amid falling oil prices and geopolitical tensions, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during a speech on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.

Under the new program the central Asian nation looks to spend $24 billion, $9 billion of which the World Bank and Asian Development Bank are ready to provide, with the remaining $15 billion coming from the Kazakh National Oil Fund, according to the report.

Kazakhstan plans to use as much as $3 billion annually through 2017 from the Kazakh Oil Fund, on top of the 1 trillion tenge ($5.5 billion) it has allocated for this year and next, according to the report.

“The new roadways that Kazakh citizens will build will renew our economy and society,” Nazarbayev said. “They will firmly tie all corners of our country to the center.”

Source: Bloomberg