BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 30. Kazakhstan has
stepped up controls over the movement of oversized and heavy
vehicles on major transport corridors and highways to protect road
infrastructure and strengthen the country's transit potential,
according to the Ministry of Transport.
Inspections are being carried out along key transport corridors
and highways, including Western Europe-Western China,
Astana-Petropavlovsk, Omsk-Pavlodar-Semey-Maikapshagai, and
Kyzylorda-Zhezkazgan.
Particular attention is being paid to preventing vehicles from
exceeding permitted weight limits, as overloading accelerates road
surface deterioration and poses a threat to road safety.
The Ministry of Transport, together with members of Kazakhstan's
Kurultai, is also working on legislative measures to increase
liability for exceeding permitted weight limits and improve control
mechanisms for heavy vehicles.
According to the ministry, efforts to strengthen transport
controls and improve legislation to ensure the preservation of road
infrastructure will continue.
The ministry indicated that the measures are being implemented
in accordance with directives from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,
as outlined in his annual Address to the People of Kazakhstan on
October 28.
In his address, Tokayev said Kazakhstan needed to become a
full-fledged organizer of international freight flows. He stressed
the importance of developing domestic logistics operators,
establishing cargo consolidation and distribution centers, and
creating new production facilities and trading platforms around
transport hubs.
The president also identified the creation of a network of
modern railways and highways connecting the country's territory and
strengthening its transit potential as a strategic objective.
Tokayev called for support for domestic road freight operators,
noting that more than half of road transit through Kazakhstan is
handled by foreign carriers. He said the government would take
appropriate measures to address the issue, adding that the main
goal was to increase citizens' incomes by strengthening the
country's transit potential.
The president also stressed the need to ensure high-quality
construction of national and local roads.
"We face an urgent task: ensuring high-quality construction of
all roads, both national and local," Tokayev said.
He criticized central and local executive bodies for shifting
responsibility for road construction and allowing the issue to
remain unresolved.
"Therefore, I instruct the Government, through the Ministry of
Transport, to oversee all roads, whether national roads, which
account for around 26% of the total, or local roads administered by
akimats. Let me repeat: we need very high-quality roads. References
to the quality of bitumen or crushed stone will not be accepted,"
Tokayev added.
He also said Kazakhstan needed to complete the high-quality
reconstruction of all road border checkpoints in 2027, noting that
progress in this area had been slow until recently.
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Transport Maksat Kaliakparov said at
a government meeting that transit cargo volumes passing through
Kazakhstan increased by 13.1% year-on-year in the first nine months
of 2026. During the reporting period, rail freight transportation
reached 241.7 million tonnes, up 3% year-on-year, while road
freight transportation totaled 270.4 million tonnes, an increase of
5.6%.
