OREANDA-NEWS. May 03, 2011. Forming new transport infrastructure and modernizing existing one in line with international quality standards, Turkmenistan sets the tasks to create the transport network that will have sufficient traffic and throughput capacity, be safe, reliable and ensure low traffic handling cost. The transport network must have no adverse impact on ecological balance, be receptive to application of advanced technologies, innovations and management of it should facilitate addressing effectively present and future social and economic issues.

Today, the length of the transport network in Turkmenistan is over 3,200 kilometres of main-line railways, about 13,700 kilometres of motor roads (of which 90% are hard surface roads), over 700 kilometres of internal navigable waterways and about 10,000 kilometres of pipelines.

In recent years, the share of the transport sector in the total volume of production investment has significantly increased. Substantial funds have been allocated to renovate motor vehicle fleet, modernize repair plants, reconstruct and construct highways roads and bus terminals in different regions of Turkmenistan. The international air terminal put into operation in Turkmenbashi in 2010 became a major transit point on air routes from Europe to South and South-East Asia. Construction of an international airport will be launched in Ashgabat in the near future, and the measures will be taken to modernise further the air terminals in the administrative centres of velayats.

Another essential factor for full-scale integration of countries of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea basin in global system of economic contacts is promotion of sea passenger and goods transportation. The Turkmenbashi international seaport operates today as the largest transit point in the region. The programme of further reconstruction provides for re-equipment of the seaport and construction of new terminals. The high technical and technological level of the seaport will guarantee environmental wellbeing of the Caspian Sea. The national merchant fleet consisting of marine passenger vessels, tankers, tugs and cargo ships was created in Turkmenistan that significantly contributes to intensifying freight and passenger traffic activity by sea as well as increasing a number of foreign vessels arriving at the seaports of Turkmenistan.

The basic sectors of Turkmen economy include railway transport. The share of the Ministry of Railway Transport in freight turnover of all modes of transport except pipeline transport is more than a half.

Under the programme aimed at developing railway transport in the country the railways such as Tejen-Sarahs-Mashhad (300 kilometres), along which goods are goods are transported across the border to the Persian Gulf seaports, Turkmenabat-Atamurat (215 kilometres), Ashgabat-Karakum-Dashoguz (530 kilometres) and some others have been already constructed. Over 40 new bridges have been built in the country. At present the Ministry of Railway Transport is engaged in the construction of the Turkmen section of the Uzen-Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan railway (697,500 kilometres), a part of the transnational North-South transport corridor to be put into operation in 2011. Putting the thoroughfare into operation will provide an opportunity to redistribute goods and switch goods transportation off from motor transport to railway transport.

In the present period motor transport in Turkmenistan has the largest share in the total volume of transportation services. In 2010 the specific weight of motor transport in the total volume of freight turnover made up over 34 percent and passenger traffic – over 86 percent.

The network of trunk roads will have been reconstructed and new highways with relevant road infrastructure will have been built in Turkmenistan by 2015. The total length of highways will be about 1700 kilometres. Compliance with international standard is a key characteristic of highways under construction throughout the country such highways as Ashgabat-Karakum-Dashoguz, Turkmenbashi-Ashgabat-Farab. Dozens of facilities including interchanges, bridges and flyovers that will reduce the traffic load of highways, protect from mudflows and ensure traffic safety are being built along these highways. A bright event, a landmark in the work on the development of road infrastructure became putting 90 road bridges into operation on the main transport arteries in the country. The work is carried out to improve the quality of rural roads and modernize the fleet of freight and passenger motor transport.

In recent years air transport of Turkmenistan has been offered powerful incentives to develop. Within a short period of time Turkmenistan bought five Boeing-737 aircrafts, two Challenger aircrafts and two Mi-17 helicopters. Along with modernization of the fleet of aircrafts the measures were taken to develop surface infrastructure. The traffic capacity of five airports in Turkmenistan is 3,450 passengers. The accession of Turkmenistan to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) opens up the vast opportunities to enhance cooperation in the transport sector. The Turkmenhovayollary State National Service extends the geography of flights. Today, over a million of people from different regions of our country and all over the world fly with Turkmenhowayollary.

Pipeline transport of Turkmenistan is thousands kilometres of oil and gas high-capacity pipelines and dozens of compressor stations. The National Programme for Social and Economic Development of Turkmenistan for 2011-2030 sets forth the basic vectors and priorities for diversification of energy resources and transit to world energy markets as well as the measures aimed at increasing reliability of energy infrastructure. Turkmenistan attaches particular importance to developing new gas transportation networks and underground gas storage systems and initiates large-scale projects for the construction of international pipelines to transit Turkmen energy to world markets. In the framework of these initiatives the largest gas transmission line of the XXI century – the Trans-Asian gas pipeline to China (Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China) and a new gas pipeline to Iran (Dovletabat-Sarahs-Hangeran) have been put into operation.

Currently, the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and elaboration of new projects on export gas pipeline routes, including towards Europe, the realization of which will facilitate wide international energy cooperation, are under way.

The other important event became the Ashgabat Summit of Foreign Ministers of Turkmenistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar and the Republic of Uzbekistan, which took place on April 25, 2011. The parties signed the Agreement to create the transport and transit corridor that would connect these countries. It gives a new impetus to strengthen external relations in various fields on regional and continental scale including the transport, manufacturing, trade, service and many other sectors.

The modern trends are aimed at creating the qualitatively new conditions conducive to developing the transport sector as a competitive system that operates in accordance with clearly defined rules and regulations and is effectively managed and supported by the state. This lies the basis for the progressive aspects of Turkmenistan’s progress and creates the qualitative transitive prerequisites for the expansion of international trade in the region.