Kazakhstan: CAREC Corridor 3 (Shymkent–Tashkent Section) Road Improvement Project

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Lessons

Local climatic conditions that could impact on road service life and maintenance needs to be fully considered during project preparation.

The project road is in a climatic zone prone to regular freezing–thawing cycles in winter. The overall annual temperature ranges from –30° to +40°, with frequent sudden increases or drops within a short period. Under such conditions, concrete slabs experience intensive expansion and compression cycles, which negatively impact their service life and maintenance cost. Kazakhstan’s Committee of Roads (COR), with its intimate knowledge of the local climatic conditions, has expressed interest in a knowledge product that would examine the technical and financial implications of building and maintaining concrete roads in South and South−East Kazakhstan. It is also proposing that an evaluation of the options and timing for building an additional layer on top of the concrete roads be included in the analytical study. The study is particularly important as COR is currently considering covering the concrete road sections of the Western Europe–Western China corridor with stone mastic asphalt. In retrospect, it would have been better if COR ensured the incorporation of all site-specific climatic considerations into the project design, or for scope changes to be made to address them while the works were still in progress, a lesson that may be useful for future similar projects. At this point, it might be necessary to stress the need for the study to be completed soon within the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program framework.

Project Cycle Stage:

Preparation

Common understanding of price adjustment in international civil works contracts needs to be worked out between the Kazakhstan government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Under ADB procurement guidelines, civil works contracts exceeding 18 months shall include a price adjustment. To avoid the price adjustment, which is consistent with the standard contract conditions established by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and followed by international financing institutions (IFIs), executing agencies of large-scale infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan would compress contract duration to 18 months. The same was experienced by this project that, even excluding long winter breaks, would require much longer than 18 months to be completed. To avoid a repeat of this experience, which could lead to a lower quality of works, ADB should earnestly seek a common understanding with the Kazakhstan government of what price adjustment in international civil works contracts means and why it must be implemented. IFIs that financed other road projects under Kazakhstan’s Western Europe–Western China Corridor investment program should consider doing likewise to prevent the recurrence of the legal action taken by the Internal State Auditing Committee of the Ministry of Finance against international contractors, which could damage the reputation of Kazakhstan as an employer of large-scale civil works contracts. Particularly, IFIs including ADB can (i) undertake additional due diligence to ensure that the borrower and its executing agencies understand FIDIC contracts; (ii) require the preeminence of international over national legal practices in works and consultancy contracts; and (iii) require borrowers to train and appoint senior legal advisors who can help resolve any concerns of national authorities about international works and consultancy contracts.

Project Cycle Stage:

Preparation

Implementation

Background

The Shymkent–Tashkent Section Road Improvement Project aimed to rehabilitate a 37-kilometer (km) section of the Shymkent–Tashkent road, an important conduit for regional and international traffic. The road is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program’s transport corridor 3, which runs from the Russian Federation’s west and south Siberian regions through Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan to the Middle East and South Asia. Commencing from the Shymkent bypass in South Kazakhstan, it extends toward the Uzbekistan border, and connects with CAREC corridor 1 that links Western Europe with the People’s Republic of China.

The project was made pressing and relevant by (i) the below average economic and social performance of South Kazakhstan, (ii) the regional significance of the project road, being at the junction of two CAREC corridors, and (iii) the dilapidated condition of the road, which impeded the development of South Kazakhstan and regional economic cooperation with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries. Parallel to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) financing, approved in October 2012 for a loan of $125 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development funded the rehabilitation of the remaining 62 km of the Shymkent–Tashkent road and provided institutional development assistance.

The project intended to develop a more efficient transport network in the South Kazakhstan section of CAREC corridor 3, as outcome; and contibute to closer regional cooperation and increased trade along the corridor, as impact. Its planned output was rehabilitation of a 37-km section of the 4-lane category 1 bitumen Shymkent–Tashkent road to a cement-concrete road of the same category without a major change in alignment.

At completion, 37.5 km of the road was rehabilitated and enhanced with a 27-centimeter (cm) thick unreinforced cement-concrete wearing/riding course placed over a 20-cm thick cement-treated base-course layer and subsequent sublayers. Vertical gradients, horizontal alignment, and safety facilities were improved. An international roughness index of 1.99–2.46 m/km was achieved. Slope protection with geogrid was also installed in a segment of the road, significantly enhancing its safety and accessibility. Animal and pedestrian underpasses were built, some at residents’ or authorities’ request.

The improved road condition triggered a doubling of the traffic volume from Shymkent to Tashkent. As compared to 8,000 vehicles per day at project start, Kazakhstan’s Committee of Roads (COR) estimated the average daily traffic in 2016 at 16,000 vehicles, 400 of which were passenger buses and 2,800 were freight trucks. Average travel speed also rose significantly: against a target of 80 km per hour (kph), it went up to 80.57 kph, from 60 kph in 2011.

Completion of the project contributed to a more vigorous regional trade: trade volume between South Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan along corridor 3 in 2017 was recorded at $714 million, with exports at $273 million and imports at $441 million. Overall trade volume between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reached $2 billion, $1.3 billion in exports and $0.7 billion in imports.

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) was the project executing agency while COR was the implementing agency.

Project Information

Project Name:

CAREC Corridor 3 (Shymkent–Tashkent Section) Road Improvement Project

Report Date:

August, 2018

Main Sector:

Transport

Country:

Kazakhstan

Project Number:

46145-001