President Serdar Berdimuhamedov led Monday (8 Aug) the groundbreaking ceremony of a new automobile bridge across the Garabogaz Strait along the Turkmenbashi–Garabogaz–Kazakhstan border highway.
At the venue of the ceremony, DPM Chary Purchekov (industry, power engineering, construction) held a presentation on the projects for the construction of highways and bridges.
He briefed the head of state on the work conducted in the road construction sector, and told about the potential of the country’s international transport corridors in the North-South and East–West directions.
Turkmenistan’s long-standing partner, the Ukrainian company Altcom Road Construction will realize the project of Garabogaz bridge. The company operate in the country since 2009 and implemented such projects as the construction of the Turkmenabat–Farab road and railway bridges, the Kerki–Kerkichi road bridge, two Kerki–Ymamnazar railway bridges, as well as the runway at Dashoguz Airport.
The general customer is the Turkmen national agency for the management of the construction of highways.
The new bridge across the Garabogaz Strait will be about 354 meters in length and 21 meters in width. It will start on the 122 kilometer of the Turkmenbashi-Garabogaz highway-the border with Kazakhstan, which is a continuation of the Ashgabat-Turkmenbashi highway.
The height of the bridge above the water level will be 7 meters.
The bridge will be commissioned in June 2024. In order to ensure its durability, hydrological, geodetic, geological surveys will be conducted at the project site.
The diagrams during the presentation showed infrastructure facilities that will be built along the Turkmenbashi–Garabogaz–Kazakhstan border highway. These are rest houses for drivers and passengers, a hotel, maintenance centers, bus stops, automated control systems for the mass and dimensions of vehicles, lighting systems, road signs.
Then the head of state addressed the participants of the ceremony.
“Our wise ancestors considered the laying of roads and the construction of bridges to be a sign of statehood and turned this matter into a noble tradition,” President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said.
“Taking into account the increased need of our time, we considered that it would be expedient to proceed with the construction of a new automobile bridge across the Garabogaz Strait”, the head of state continued.
The new bridge will allow cargo carriers of Turkmenistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and India to reach the Northern and Eastern Europe by the shortest route, using sea, rail and road transport.
In addition, the road bridge will provide favorable conditions for the active integration of Turkmenistan into the global economic space. To this end, Turkmenistan provides for the construction of new highways and the reconstruction of existing ones.
“The implementation of these large-scale works will create optimal conditions for uninterrupted transportation of goods and passengers from Europe to Central Asia and from Central Asia to Europe through the International Seaport of Turkmenbashi,” the President said.
It will also allow us to develop the rich natural resources of the seashore and the Garabogaz Strait and , having studied the geographical factors of the area, use them effectively. In addition, tourists will have the opportunity to enjoy the health resorts and recreation centers of the national tourist zone Awaza, he added.
The Turkmen leader expressed confidence that the implementation of this project will have a positive impact on improving the social and living standards of the people, the development of the country’s transport and logistics system.
The Garabogaz Strait bridge will become an important link in the network of international highways running across Turkmenistan. The Turkmenbashy-Garabogaz road is part of the European route M37, European route E121, and Asian Highway Network AH5. Together, they constitute an enormous network connecting, China, South Asia, Central Asia, Russia, Caucasus, and Europe in a crisscross fashion. ///nCa, 9 August 2022 (photo source – Turkmen TV screenshots)