What was launched on 3 August
On 3 August 2026, during a video link-up, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched construction of the new 800-km Beineu – Saksaulsk highway. At the same time, work is starting on the widening and comprehensive reconstruction of the Kyzylorda – Saksaulsk and Ulgaisyn – Saksaulsk roads, with a combined length of 774 km. The President proposed naming the new road the “Aral-Caspian Highway”.
According to the Qyzylorda TV channel, work began simultaneously in three regions: Kyzylorda, Mangystau and Aktobe. First Deputy Prime Minister Nurlybek Nalibayev, Aktobe Region Governor (akim) Askhat Shakharov and Mangystau Region Governor Nurdaulet Kilybay reported during the link-up that everything was ready for the launch.
The deadline is tight. “It is fundamentally important to complete all the projects launched today strictly on schedule – no later than 2029,” the President said.
Key figures
- 800 km: the new Beineu – Saksaulsk highway. It is meant to link the checkpoints on the border with China directly to the ports of Aktau and Kuryk.
- 774 km: reconstruction and widening of the Kyzylorda – Saksaulsk and Ulgaisyn – Saksaulsk roads.
- Technical categories I and II: according to Qyzylorda TV, the Kyzylorda – Saksaulsk section is being built to category I and the Saksaulsk – Beineu route to category II.
- More than 10,000 jobs: according to the President, domestic companies will be brought in to work on the projects.
- 13.2 million tonnes a year: the expected freight flow once the highways open, 2.5 times the current level.
- About 2.5 trillion tenge: the total cost of the projects as stated by Nurlybek Nalibayev. He said three projects – Aktobe – Ulgaisyn, Kyzylorda – Saksaulsk and Saksaulsk – Ulgaisyn – add up to 1,200 km, with a further 800 km accounted for by Beineu – Saksaulsk.
Estimates of the distance saved vary because different routes are being measured. The President said the route for freight from China to Europe would be shortened by 1,000 kilometres, “and delivery time by up to 3 days”. According to Qyzylorda TV, the distance between the south and the west of the country, where the main route currently runs through Aktobe Region, will shrink by almost 900 km.
Who is paying
According to Qyzylorda TV, the financing comes from international financial institutions. Back in March, Transport Minister Nurlan Sauranbayev put the cost of the Beineu – Saksaulsk project alone at about 780 billion tenge, based on its feasibility study. At the same time, National Business, citing the government, reported that the EBRD and the IBRD had sent mandate letters stating their intention to provide more than 800 billion tenge. The reports on the start of construction do not say which loans had actually been signed by August.
What this means for the machinery market
The project lands on a road sector that is already stretched. According to BAQ.KZ, in 2026 KazAvtoZhol covered about 3,400 km of national roads with construction and reconstruction work, against roughly 2,200 km a year earlier, and about 8,900 km including repair and maintenance. The same source says some 12,000 machines and 193 asphalt plants are engaged in building, repairing and maintaining the national network. The outlet links this volume of work to the growth in freight: according to the Bureau of National Statistics, road freight rose from 299.9 million tonnes in 2023 to 362.9 million tonnes in 2025, and reached 233.6 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2026.
Other construction projects are also fuelling demand. During the same link-up, the President referred to the construction of the Saryagash bypass, which is already under way, and the modernisation of the Zhezkazgan – Karaganda highway, and announced that in 2027 road border checkpoints will undergo full reconstruction for the first time. Among this year's major projects, BAQ.KZ lists the reconstruction of 262 km of the Aktobe – Karabutak – Ulgaisyn highway, the 25-km Kyzylorda bypass and the widening of 22 km of the Almaty – Bishkek road from four to eight lanes.
The scale of a single large project is clear from the Karaganda – Zhezkazgan highway: four lots, more than 2,500 specialists and over a thousand machines are at work on the 457-km route. The Aral-Caspian Highway is considerably longer. In the President's words, “roads of life in the undeveloped steppes of the Aral Sea region will turn dead-end routes into important crossroads of Eurasia's key transport corridors”. For contractors, this means working far from major cities, bases and dealer service centres.
What is not yet known
- The line-up of contractors and the division into lots have not been disclosed in the reports on the launch: Akorda speaks only of the involvement of domestic companies.
- The launch reports contain no schedules for individual sections and no requirements for contractors' machinery fleets.
- According to Darkhan Imanashev, Chairman of the Management Board of KazAvtoZhol, the project includes the construction of service centres, and traffic on the Beineu – Saksaulsk highway is scheduled to open in 2029.
What to do now
- Contractors and subcontractors: follow KazAvtoZhol's tenders and announcements, and watch which companies win the general contracts, as they will be the ones taking on machinery and subcontractors.
- Fleet owners and rental companies: work out in advance which machines could be moved to the Kyzylorda, Mangystau and Aktobe regions, and what transporting them would cost.
- For work on remote sections, plan servicing in advance: an on-site stock of consumables and fast-moving spare parts, mobile mechanics, refuelling and communications.
- Build a realistic horizon into your plans: the work runs until 2029, so this means years of steady work for machinery rather than a single season.
Sources
- Акорда, "Глава государства в ходе телемоста дал старт строительству ряда автомобильных дорог", 2026-08-03: https://www.akorda.kz/ru/glava-gosudarstva-v-hode-telemosta-dal-start-stroitelstvu-ryada-avtomobilnyh-dorog-375253
- Qyzylorda TV, "Началось строительство магистрали «Каспий – Арал»", 2026-08-04: https://qyzylordatv.kz/ru/news/39229
- BAQ.KZ, "Дороги, которые сократят путь: какие крупные автотрассы Казахстана строят и реконструируют в 2026 году", 2026-10-08: https://rus.baq.kz/dorogi-kotorye-sokratyat-put-kakie-krupnye-avtotrassy-kazahstana-stroyat-i-rekonstruiruyut-v-2026-godu-320048285/
- National Business, "Сауранбаев: автодорога Бейнеу – Сексеул сократит путь в Европу на 1000 км", 2026-03-03: https://nationalbusiness.kz/news/sauranbaev-avtodoroga-beyneu-sekseul-sokratit-put-v-evropu-na-1000-km/
