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ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Center-South corridor’s “Balkhash-Burybaital” road section will be transferred into the first category. This was announced by the Minister for Investment and Development of Kazakhstan Zhenis Kassymbek at the plenary session of the Mazhilis, the correspondent of the IAA "Kazinform" reports.

Mazhilis deputy Kanat Mussin asked the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan what measures are being taken to improve road safety and reduce accident rates on this road.

“The importance and relevance of the transport link between Astana and Almaty is well known to all, and the importance of the reconstruction of Balkhash-Burylbaital section increases, as it occupies a quarter of the entire length of the road. As you know, now the issue of the implementation of work on monitoring the safety of road infrastructure and highways is within the competence of the Ministry of Investment and Development. Statistics of road accidents in this area, unfortunately, is disappointing. Thus, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in only 2017 there were 24 traffic accidents, where 49 people were injured, and in the last 10 months of the current year 10 accidents occurred and the number of victims was 24 people. In this regard, taking into account the scale of the reconstruction and upgrading of the Balkhash-Burylbaital road category, the following question arises: what measures are taken to improve road safety and reduce accidents on this road”? asked Kanat Mussin.

The head of the MID, Zhenis Kassymbek, replied that the quality of Balkhash-Burylbaital road section is low, and it falls into the third category.

“Under the new project in 2021, the road will be of the first category, four-lane and have a dividing strip so that there are no contradictions. Thanks to the lanes in the direction of Astana-Burabai, in one year the number of accidents decreased by half. Unfortunately, there were a lot of dead, but it was in this section that the number of dead decreased by 8 times. In this section, the road’s permeability increased 8-9 times, and the number of accidents decreased. We plan to reduce the number of accidents on all roads in the future” added Zhenis Kassymbek.