Tokayev Announces Kazakhstan's Largest Infrastructure Program in History Worth $14.3 Billion

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced during his annual address to the nation on October 28 the allocation of 6.5 trillion tenge ($14.3 billion USD) from the National Fund through the end of 2029 for modernizing the country's infrastructure.

The program was named "People's Construction." Tokayev characterized it as a potentially largest infrastructure project in the country's history, aimed at developing social, transportation, and engineering infrastructure, creating jobs, and stimulating economic growth.

The president expressed deep conviction that "this initiative will provide jobs for hundreds of thousands of people," and added that the entire Kazakh nation, especially the younger generation, would benefit from it.

Tokayev warned that relying exclusively on state resources for a project of this scale is unacceptable. "The logic of the decisions being made is simple: state funds should become a guarantee for attracting private investment," he emphasized. Kazakhstan's gold and foreign currency reserves together with National Fund assets exceed $130 billion.

The president placed particular emphasis on logistics. According to him, about 85% of cargo transported from China to Europe already passes through Kazakhstan, however the country cannot remain a passive transit territory. Tokayev called for developing domestic logistics operators, cargo consolidation centers, and production facilities around transportation hubs.

The president tasked the government with completing quality reconstruction of all road border crossings in the coming year, calling the state of roads an urgent problem. In Tokayev's view, "without quality roads and modern roadside infrastructure" the country cannot claim the status of a global transit corridor.