Kazakhstan launches largest logistics center in Central Asia
By Aynur Karimova
Kazakhstan has launched the largest transport and logistics center in the Central Asian region in its capital city Astana.
The country’s railway operator, Kazakhstan Temyr Zholy, reported that the center will render integrated storage services with a full cycle of multi-modal logistics.
The center’s territory houses a dry storage, a climatic warehouse, a distribution center, and a container yard. Use of advanced technologies at the center allows significantly improving operations on loading and unloading goods, and handling up to one million tons of cargo per year.
The center in Astana can receive and dispatch goods from trains to cars and in reverse mode.
Kazakhstan also plans to construct transport and logistics centers in other major cities, such as Aktobe, Pavlodar, Almaty, Uralsk, Atyrau, Kostanai and Semey as part of a program to create external and internal terminal network.
Construction of a transport and logistics center in Shymkent will be completed by late this year.
Kazakhstan, which is located in the heart of Eurasia with no access to world oceans, deserves to be part of the Silk Road Project, a massive undertaking initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 that aims to connect China with Europe and strengthen cooperation between Asia and Africa.
The development of the transport and logistics potential of Kazakhstan is the main goal of the 'Nurly Jol' program, initiated by Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. The integration of the program with the new Silk Road economic belt is believed to attract new cargo flows.
Today Kazakhstan wants to attract the maximum amount of the international trade via land route through its own territory. With its advantageous geographic position, a crossroad in between Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan intends to be part of a new multibillion-dollar Silk Road Project.
Kazakhstan has already started working towards the realization of this idea. It is taking measures to develop its transportation infrastructure. The government has set a goal to remove all infrastructural restrictions in order to increase the country’s capabilities to offer competitive services and increase the volume of shipments.
Currently, the necessary transport infrastructure is being created in Kazakhstan. This will allow us to attract at least 10 million tons of transit cargo. Also, some $40 billion foreign direct investment will be attracted to the transport sector.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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