Overview: The transportation infrastructure does not meet the needs of a vast country whose per-capita volume of road and railroad shipping is one of the highest in the world and whose climatic extremes put particular stress on transportation infrastructure. The telecommunications infrastructure is similarly inadequate to meet contemporary needs. Critical repairs and expansion have not received adequate funding or organized planning, although international banks have funded some projects.
Roads: In 2004 Kazakhstan had about 81,300 kilometers of roads, of which 78,000 were hard surface. Of the 23,000 kilometers of main highways, an estimated two-thirds are in poor condition. The major artery, the 1,222-kilometer road between Astana and Almaty, was rehabilitated in the early 2000s with funding from three international banks. With assistance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, another important highway is being completed along the Caspian coast between Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan and Astrakhan in Russia, serving Kazakhstan’s western oil outposts. There are 46 road crossings on the border with Russia, seven each on the borders with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and six on the border with China. Ownership of private vehicles remained low in the early 2000s.
Railroads: In 2004 Kazakhstan had an estimated 13,700 kilometers of rail line, of which 3,661 kilometers were electrified. The infrastructure of the railroad system is in poor condition, although Kazakhstan still moves nearly 75 percent of its freight and 50 percent of its passengers by rail. Rolling stock and spare parts have been in short supply. The system is concentrated in the northern part of the country, where it connects with lines in southern Russia. Lines also run northeast from Almaty to join the Trans-Siberian Railroad in Russia and westward from Almaty to Shymkent and then into European Russia. The main connector with Uzbekistan runs into Shymkent. Needed reform of the administrative strucure and route improvements have gone slowly. A high priority is construction of a shorter rail route across Kazakhstan to link western China with Russia. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan plan a 100-kilometer connector line from Almaty to Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, to be completed in 2008. A rail line connects Druzhba, on Kazakhstan’s eastern border, with China via the Alataw Shankou Pass. Almaty also plans to build a 35-kilometer subway line.
Ports: Kazakhstan’s major ports are the cities of Aqtau and Atyrau on the Caspian Sea and the Irtysh River ports of Öskemen, Pavlodar, and Semey, which serve the northeastern industrial sector. Beginning in 1999, Aqtau was upgraded, with the goal of handling 7.5 million tons of oil and 1 million tons of freight per year. A new ferry port opened in Aqtau in 2001 added substantially to its capacity and established ferry connections with Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia.
Inland Waterways: Although Kazakhstan has about 4,000 kilometers of inland waterways, 80 percent of river traffic uses the Irtysh River. Eleven companies carry traffic through the system.
Civil Aviation and Airports: In 2004 some 18 major airports and 51 smaller paved-runway airports served Kazakhstan. Three, at Almaty, Aqtau, and Atyrau, offer international flights. Nine airports have runways longer than 3,000 meters. Flights from Almaty connect with Russia, other former Soviet republics, and some destinations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The government has contracted management of some airports to foreign companies, and in the early 2000s foreign companies began competing with domestic airlines. In 2002 one-third of Kazakhstan’s air companies lost their licenses because of lax safety practices, and many companies merged thereafter. Air Kazakhstan, the state airline, has been plagued by debt and decaying infrastructure. The Atyrau airport is scheduled for upgrading with funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Pipelines: Because Kazakhstan is a large country producing large amounts of oil and natural gas, pipelines receive high priority in transportation planning, and their location and funding have been controversial issues. In 2004 Kazakhstan had 10,370 kilometers of natural gas pipeline, 10,158 kilometers of oil pipeline, 1,187 kilometers of pipeline for refined products, and 1,465 kilometers for water. Poor management and distribution of the domestic pipeline system have necessitated importation of natural gas, and foreign investment has concentrated on export lines. Kazakhstan is linked to the Russian pipeline system by the Atyrau-Samara line, whose capacity was increased in 2001, and to Russia’s Black Sea oil terminal at Novorossiysk by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium line. The Central Asia Oil Pipeline sends oil from Kazakhstan through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar. In late 2004, construction began on the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline between eastern Kazakhstan and Xinjiang Province in China. That 970-kilometer line is to have a capacity of 20 million tons per year.
Telecommunications: Although Kazakhstan has the best telephone system in Central Asia, the system rates poorly by world standards, providing only 12 lines per 1,000 inhabitants in 2003. Attempts to attract foreign investment have largely failed. The state-owned national telecommunications company, Kazakhtelcom, has received assistance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in a nationwide program of expansion and modernization. Particular growth has occurred in mobile phone access; in 2002 more than 1 million people used mobile telephones, compared with 29,000 in 1994. The planned launch of the KazSat communications satellite from the Baykonur space platform in late 2005 or 2006, with Russian technical assistance, would reduce dependence on European and U.S. telecommunications satellites.
Expansion of Internet use has been limited by the relatively low ownership of computers in Kazakhstan. Most users access the Internet at public or work facilities. Usage is concentrated in the northern urban centers. In 2003 an estimated 250,000 people were using the Internet, with about 1,600 domestic servers. More than half the sites being accessed were foreign.