In Tashkent, the meeting took place between Abdurkhmon Abduvaliyev, the Head of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Roads, and Guenter Papenburg, the Board Chairman of GP Papenburg AG. The subject matter of the negotiations was the company’s participation in the highway construction in Uzbekistan that is supposed to be implemented on the principle of public-private partnership.

The first-rate importance measure to start construction of toll roads in Uzbekistan is development of the relevant regulatory framework. The Law ‘On Public-Private Partnership’ is expected to be issued by the mid-2018. If the agreement is reached, the first toll roads will start operating in our country in 2020.

The first project might be a new Tashkent-Bukhara highway running through Samarkand. One of its major advantages is a possibility to drive at a higher speed than it is assigned on the regular roads.

When building the road, the special bitumen-concrete mixture is supposed to be used. A joint venture will be established to construct asphalt-concrete plants. The joint venture will afterwards be engaged in the maintenance of roads and specialized vehicles.

Company background: GP Papenburg AG has been successfully cooperating with many CIS countries. Over the past few years, the company has constructed cement concrete and asphalt concrete roads in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and other countries.

The company has also constructed an autobahn with a length of 50 km on one of the sections of the Guzar - Bukhara - Nukus - Beineu international road. The project cost amounted to €66 million.

Kommersant.uz