Iranians help build Kazakhstan highway

TEHRAN, Nov. 30 (MNA) -- Kazakhstan’s six-lane highway between Astana and Schuchinsk, built with the help of an Iranian construction company, was inaugurated by the Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev.


The professional competence of Iranian specialists has influenced the Kazakh Minister of Transport and Communications to hire an Iranian expert for the first time as his advisor, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported on Monday.



The Iranian company Dena KZ was contracted to construct 51 kilometers of the 215 kilometer highway.



Other companies from Germany, Italy, Turkey and Kazakhstan cooperated in the project.



The highway passes near the Russia-Kazakhstan border and eases transportation in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).



INSTC is a multi modal transportation route established on September 2000, in St. Petersburg, by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose of promoting transportation cooperation among the three member states.



The INSTC was later expanded to include eleven new members, namely Republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Syria, Bulgaria and Sultanate of Oman.



This corridor connects the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, and extends to north Europe via the Russian Federation.