Transport and infrastructure projects of Bukhara region: a $300 million airport, a toll road and water supply

Meeting on the development of Bukhara

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on the comprehensive development and improvement of living standards in Bukhara region, his press secretary Sherzod Asadov reported. The head of state announced initiatives worth a total of $30 billion aimed at 'positive changes in the economy and everyday life' of Bukhara; infrastructure was named one of the key areas. This is reported by Spot.uz.

Water supply and roads

An additional $248 million is planned to be attracted for the construction of water supply and sewerage networks, on top of the $385 million previously received from the Asian Development Bank. This should improve water supply for 1.7 million people and provide sewerage coverage for 775,000 residents of the region: access to centralized water supply will rise from the current 80% to 95%. In the road sector, the task by the end of the year is to complete the reconstruction of the section of the A-380 highway passing through the region. In 2027, repairs of 69 km of the M-37 highway and the construction of a 4.5 km bypass road around the regional center, worth $200 million, will begin.

Toll road and high-speed railway

A toll road with cement-concrete pavement is planned between Samarkand and Bukhara, which will cut travel time by more than three times — from 5 to 1.5 hours. A separate railway line for high-speed trains between the cities is also envisaged. Mirziyoyev instructed responsible officials to prepare master plans for projects in the fields of road transport and railwaysin order to begin negotiations with partners. Both projects so far exist only at the planning level: no signed agreements or construction timelines were mentioned in the reports.

New airport

Construction of a modern airport worth $300 million is already underway in Bukhara. It will be able to simultaneously receive up to 20 aircraft and serve 1,200 passengers per hour. The airport will be connected to the city by a 24 km highway, on which a 5.5 km BRT bus corridor will be created. The president ordered the construction of the airport and the road to it to be completed by September 1, 2027 — the next Independence Day. The task has been set to establish direct flights from Bukhara to Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt.

Context

Spot previously reported that the Bukhara oil refinery will be modernized for $328 million to increase the output of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline — this is another element of the announced package of changes in the region's economy. Thus, of the items listed at the meeting, some projects are already under construction (the airport, the A-380 reconstruction), some have approved launch timelines (the M-37 repairs and the bypass road — 2027), while the toll road and the high-speed railway line remain at the stage of preparing master plans and negotiating with partners.