Turkish construction companies will carry out the Big Almaty Ring Road (BAKAD) project in Kazakhstan through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, which will be a first in the country.

As part of the consortium agreement between Turkish companies Alsim-Alarko and Makyol and Korean company SK, the companies will build the BAKAD project 30 kilometers from the Almaty province. The construction of the road, whose foundations were laid last May, is scheduled to start this May. Within the framework of the project, a 66-kilometer long road consisting of six lanes will be constructed near the city of Almaty. The project, which costs $480 million, will be completed and put into operation within 4.5 years. BAKAD is expected to solve the traffic problem in the Almaty region.

Abbas Şahin, Alsim-Alarko's Regional Coordinator for Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Community of Independent States (CIS), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the road will be a toll road, all vehicles on the road will be monitored with a smart road system, weather conditions will be transmitted to drivers with smart bots and smart technology will also be used in road maintenance and operation. Şahin said that BAKAD, which will have eight junction bridges, will intersect with the existing infrastructure at 240 points.

He emphasized that BAKAD is the first project being implemented in Kazakhstan with the BOT method. According to Şahin, they will construct the project in five years and operate it for 16 years. "We provide the whole construction budget. We are responsible for collecting maintenance and transfer fees during the operation. We will transfer the transit fees to the government within 24 hours. The state will return the money for our investment during the 16-year operation process," he said.