President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on 30 August approving updated plans for construction of the first toll roads in the country within public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
Tashkent-Samarkand
This month, the tender for construction of the Tashkent-Samarkand toll road should be announced. The contractor should be selected and the contract signed in December, with construction works expected to commence shortly after.
The project is slated for completion by the end of 2028. After that, the road should be transferred to a private operator on a PPP agreement. The preliminary cost of the project is estimated at $2.2 billion.
Tashkent-Andijan
The construction of a 303-kilometer Tashkent-Andijan toll road will be supported by the World Bank. The estimated cost of this project is $4.28 billion. However, in May, deputy transport minister Jasurbek Choriyev said it may reach $4.6 billion.
The concept of the project is scheduled to be approved in October. The first phase of the tender is set for March 2025 and the second for October. The winner of the tender should be announced in April 2026, with the PPP contract signed the same month.
Other projects
Another other projects included in the program is construction of a $1 billion toll road between Samarkand and Bukhara in 2027−2030.
A toll tunnel is planned to be built at Takhtakaracha mountain pass. Negotiations with potential strategic companies should be conducted by the end of the year. The project concept should be approved by August 2025.
A private partner is expected to be selected by February 2026, and the PPP agreement signed by December 2026. The project is estimated to cost $100 million. The tunnel will span 4.4 kilometers. In October 2023, president Mirziyoyev said the construction of the tunnel would begin in 2024.
A new ring road in Chirchik, Tashkent region (connecting roads 4P5 and 4K755A) with asphalt-concrete pavement is planned to be built by the end of 2025 at a cost of $60 million.
A 49 km section (from 3rd to 52th km) of the A378-Karshi highway in Samarkand-Karshi direction will be reconstructed with cement concrete pavement at an estimated cost of $75 million. This project is set to be completed by the end of 2028.
Delayed projects
The development of toll roads under PPP agreements has been in the plans since 2018, when the Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree scheduling gradual introduction of such roads from 1 January 2020.
However, one year later then transport minister Elyor Ganiyev said the construction of Tashkent-Samarkand toll road had been postponed because of high tariffs proposed by the investor.
In March 2021, it was reported that tariffs for passenger cars traveling on the planned Tashkent-Samarkand and Tashkent-Andijan toll roads would make up $5−6. The maximum speed on these roads was expected to be 120−150 km/h.
In 2021, it was reported that the cost of construction of Tashkent-Andijan highway would exceed $2 billion. Representatives of the World Bank then estimated that passenger cars using the road would be charged from $5 to $7, while trucks and buses could pay up to $15.
