As of 2007, Uzbekistan's overland transportation infrastructure declined significantly in the post-Soviet era due to low investment and poor maintenance. Air transport was the only branch that received substantial government investment in the early 2000s, as airport modernization projects were undertaken. In the following years, improvements have been made to the surface transport network including the construction of the Tashkent–Samarkand high-speed rail line.
Railways
Main article: Rail transport in UzbekistanAs of March 2017, the total length of Uzbekistan's main railway network is 4,669 kilometres (2,901 mi), of which 2,446 km (1,520 mi) is electrified.
Highways
As of 2005, Uzbekistan had 84,400 km (52,400 mi) of roads, about 72,000 km (45,000 mi) of which were paved. The road infrastructure is deteriorating, particularly outside of Tashkent. No significant highway projects were underway in 2006. In the early 2000s, U.S. engineers improved some roads around the port of Termez to facilitate movement of humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is a member country of the United Nations’ Asian Highway Network, and several national roads are designated as part of the network.
There are some parts of the roads considered as freeways, although mostly in a state of complete neglect and disrepair since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ring road around Tashkent is about 70 km (43 mi) long, and completely multilaned, although it lacks a carriageway separation in most sections.
The M39 Highway, connecting Tashkent and Samarkand is a 4-laned road in some 300 km (190 mi) of its length, although poorly maintained and without carriageway separation in most of its length. In January, 2017, the Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan governments made an agreement to reopen the 65 km (40 mi) section of this highway which passed through Kazakhstan that had been closed for ten years, avoiding the detour via Guliston. The M37 Highway starts from Samarkand, reaching west to the Turkmen border, via Navoiy and Bukhara. The A373 Highway starts from Tashkent, going east through Kokand of Fergana Region, and ends at the Kyrgyz border.
In September 2019, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank proposed the Bukhara Road Network Improvement Project to improve the multiple assets of cross-border roads in Bukhara and the road networks in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm regions. The project finances were approved in June of 2020 and has been estimated to take 214.7 million USD.
Ports and waterways
Double landlocked Uzbekistan has no seaports. Its main river port is Termez on the Amu Darya river. Although Termez lacks modern facilities and has a shortage of spare parts, activity there has increased as conditions in neighboring Afghanistan have stabilized. Termez has been an important transfer point for humanitarian supplies entering Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan has 1,100 km (680 mi) of inland waterways. Since the mid-1990s, commercial travel on Uzbekistan's portion of the Amu Darya has been reduced because of low water levels.
Pipelines
As of 2010, Uzbekistan had 10,253 km (6,371 mi) of natural gas pipelines, 868 km (539 mi) of oil pipelines, and 33 km (21 mi) of pipelines for refined products.
Airports
As of 2012, Uzbekistan has 53 airports. 33 of them have paved runways, six of which had runways longer than 3,000 m (9,800 ft). The largest of them, Tashkent International Airport, is linked with European and Middle Eastern cities by direct flights of Aeroflot, Lufthansa, and Turkish Airlines, and with New York and Los Angeles via connecting flights through Moscow. The national airline, Uzbek Havo Yollari (Uzbekistan Airlines), flies mainly within the former Soviet Union. In August 2010, Hanjin Group, the parent of Korean Airlines, opened a new cargo terminal at Navoi, which will become a cargo hub with regular Incheon-Navoi-Milan flights.
See also
- North-South Transport Corridor
- Ashgabat agreement, a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
References
- ^ Uzbekistan country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (February 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Asian Development Bank website
- Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan to Reopen Section of M-39 Highway in February (The Astana Times, January 10, 2017)
- "Uzbekistan Bukhara Road Network Improvement Project (Phase 1)" (PDF). Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. January 26, 2021.
- The Hans India - India accedes to Ashgabat agreement
