President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced on July 22 during a ceremony marking the start of construction of the Tashkent-Samarkand highway that the first toll road between Urgench and Khiva is scheduled to be commissioned in August.

The 35-kilometer toll road, connecting the historic city of Khiva with Urgench, is already under construction and will be opened next month, the president stated. The highway is expected to become a key part of the tourism infrastructure, serving local residents and foreign visitors.

According to the Committee for Roads, as of July 15, construction of the road is 80% complete. The project includes 15 new bridges, one tunnel, five underground crossings, and 101 water drainage structures. Earthworks and the base layer are fully finished, with the first asphalt layer laid on 25 km of the route.

The new highway will serve as an alternative to the existing D215 Khiva highway, reducing travel time between Urgench and Khiva from 60 to 17 minutes. The road's capacity is expected to exceed 20,000 vehicles per day. The project cost is estimated at $120 million.

President Mirziyoyev also revealed that an international tender for the Tashkent-Andijan toll road is in its final stage. The first phase of the 314-km road, spanning 171 km, is valued at $3.66 billion. The project is supported by the World Bank.

For the Tashkent-Chorvoq toll road, a private partner is being selected. The 52-km road is planned to be built within three years. Preliminary agreements have been reached with Qatar's Protocol Capital Group and South Korea's Korea Expressway Corporation.

The Anti-Corruption Agency previously stated it is reviewing the Urgench-Khiva project. Experts have noted that the concentration of customer, contractor, and supplier roles within a single structure may create conflicts of interest.

Source: www.gazeta.uz