Kazakhstan - Center West Regional Development Corridor Project (Anglais)

Kazakhstan has made significant development progress over the last decade, with a steady increase in per-capita income and a substantial poverty reduction. Yet, since 2014, challenging external environment has resulted in a terms-of-trade shock that halved...  Voir la suite Kazakhstan has made significant development progress over the last decade, with a steady increase in per-capita income and a substantial poverty reduction. Yet, since 2014, challenging external environment has resulted in a terms-of-trade shock that halved export revenue, affected domestic demand, and led to a broad-based economic slowdown. The government fiscal revenues, especially from the oil sector, have also declined substantially during the same period. With external imbalances emerging and putting significant pressure on official international reserves, the authorities decided to move to a floating exchange rate regime in August 2015. In November 2014 Kazakhstan adopted a new economic anti-crisis program ‘Nurly Zhol’ largely based on infrastructure investments. The program plans road and rail transport projects connecting Astana, the capital city with East, West, North, and South via rail, air, and road networks. The program expects that priority physical infrastructure and improved connectivity would foster business-driven regional economic integration through enhanced mobility allowing the setup of distributed production and delivery systems. The ‘Nurly Zhol’ is also focused on new jobs and incomes through investments such as the Center West Regional Development Corridor Project (CWRP), which was designed based on those principles. The Center West Corridor development was considered one of the highest priorities by ‘Nurly Zhol’, and was developed as an anti-crisis operation to provide jobs and stimulate the development of small and medium enterprises in lagging areas of Kazakhstan. The corridor represents a missing road link between Center and West (from Astana via Aktobe to Aktau) and within the urban agglomerations and the second tier cities. The new corridor will contribute to a more balanced development of the western and northern areas, and contributing to bridging the gap between the north-western region and Almaty and Astana, where the current economic wealth is concentrated.  Réduire