Publication: The Road to Better Jobs: Boosting Transit Connectivity in Kazakhstan
Loading...
Date
2025-05-12
ISSN
Published
2025-05-12
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Kazakhstan holds a strategic position between China, Europe, and the Middle East, but has historically been underutilized as an economic and transit bridge because of poor connectivity across the country. This has not only hindered Kazakhstan’s ability to leverage its geographical advantage but also led to pronounced regional disparities. Lack of efficient transport links contributed to unequal access to employment, education, healthcare, and social and cultural opportunities. Transit costs were high in terms of time, finances, and vehicle wear and tears, which posed significant obstacles to international commerce and stymied local socioeconomic progress, particularly in the southern regions. These challenges disproportionately impacted women, who faced greater unemployment and suffered from high maternal mortality rates because they cannot quickly reach medical care. These issues were compounded by persistent underinvestment and limited institutional capacity within the road sector, which further impeded the development of robust transportation infrastructure.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2025. The Road to Better Jobs: Boosting Transit Connectivity in Kazakhstan. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43181 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Benin : Transport Assessment Note for Roads, Airports, and Port Sectors(Washington, DC, 2007-06-28)The purpose of this Economic Sector Work (ESW) is to: (i) provide a framework to help the government analyze transport sector issues and finalize the update of the transport sector strategy; and (ii) identify issues and challenges that can be addressed through donor funded operations. This ESW focuses on roads, air, and port transport. Transport infrastructure and services have a vital role to play in the economic and social development of the country. They were designed to facilitate the distribution and sale of income-generating products, mainly cotton; to promote goods transit towards neighboring countries; and to facilitate trade between towns and rural areas, and ensuring access to social infrastructure and services in the rural area. The formal transport sector contributes approximately seven percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), but its indirect contribution to the creation of added value is much greater.Publication Zimbabwe Infrastructure Dialogue in Roads, Railways, Water, Energy, and Telecommunication Sub-Sectors(Washington, DC, 2008-06)In the 1990s, Zimbabwe's economic growth began to slow following a balance of payments crisis and repeated droughts. By the late 1990s Zimbabwe's economy was in serious trouble driven by economic mismanagement, political violence, and the wider impact of the land reform program on food production. During 2007 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contract by more than 6 percent, making the cumulative output decline over 35 percent since 1999. The unrelenting economic deterioration is doing long-term damage to the foundations of the Zimbabwean economy, private sector investment is virtually zero, infrastructure has deteriorated, and skilled professionals have left the country. With inflation accelerating, the Government introduced, in 2007, blanket price controls and ordered businesses to cut prices by half. Despite the strict price controls inflation continues to rise as the root cause of high inflation, monetization of the large public sector financing needs remains unaddressed. A large part of the high public sector deficit is due to quasi-fiscal spending by the central bank on mainly concessional credits and subsidized foreign exchange for priority sectors, unrealized exchange rate losses, and losses incurred by the central bank's open market operations to mop up liquidities.Publication Roads and Rural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06)This paper assesses the relation between access to markets and cultivated land in Sub-Saharan Africa. Making use of a geo-referenced panel over three decades (1970-2005) during which the road network was significantly improved, the analysis finds a modest but significant positive association between increased market accessibility and local cropland expansion. It also finds that cropland expansion, in turn, is associated with a small but significant increase in local gross domestic product. These results are suggestive of agricultural activities that develop at the extensive margin, which are mostly to serve local demand, but are not indicative of commercial agriculture that serves external markets.Publication The Brasilia Experiment : Road Access and the Spatial Pattern of Long-term Local Development in Brazil(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-07)This paper studies the impact of the rapid expansion of the Brazilian road network, which occurred from the 1960s to the 2000s, on the growth and spatial allocation of population and economic activity across the country's municipalities. It addresses the problem of endogeneity in infrastructure location by using an original empirical strategy, based on the "historical natural experiment" constituted by the creation of the new federal capital city Brasília in 1960. The results reveal a dual pattern, with improved transport connections increasing concentration of economic activity and population around the main centers in the South of the country, while spurring the emergence of secondary economic centers in the less developed North, in line with predictions in terms of agglomeration economies. Over the period, roads are shown to account for half of pcGDP growth and to spur a significant decrease in spatial inequality.Publication Peru - Recent Economic Development in Infrastructure : Volume 2. Investing in Infrastructure as an Engine for Growth - Spending More, Faster, and Spending Better(Washington, DC, 2010-12)This report provided the Government of Peru with a comprehensive strategic assessment of three key infrastructure sectors: water/sanitation, transport and electricity, and to propose selected recommendations on how the Government could improve the performance of these sectors. Peru's public expenditure framework shows some rigidities, a number of which were introduced when fiscal resources were scarce or, more recently, because of concerns about a possible risk of inflation. The implementation of the stimulus package has required a laborious transition to remove bottlenecks to faster public spending, sometimes at the risk of affecting the mechanisms that help ensure the quality of public expenditures. The Peruvian authorities have been able to accelerate public investments in infrastructure but little thinking has been dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of such investments. The report concludes that Peru should focus on: prioritizing infrastructure investments through improved planning, promoting efficiency in infrastructure delivery, enhancing sub-national governments' capacity with respect to infrastructure, and leveraging the participation of the private sector.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Cities’ Partnership Initiative(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-24)Sustainable urban development is one of the key areas of development policy in Poland, which is in line with global trends. Sustainable urban development requires an integrated approach that takes into account the complexity and dynamics of phenomena and processes taking place in the urban environment. Meeting the challenges of urban development requires, on the one hand, a steady increase in the capacity of cities to plan and implement development projects, and on the other hand, a favorable regulatory and financial framework and support instruments that are an adequate response to the needs of urban centers. The Cities’ Partnership Initiative (CPI) is a flagship project of the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy of Poland (MDFRP) aimed at supporting sustainable urban development. This final report is the third product of the Reimbursable Advisory Service Agreement on Sustainable Urban Development - Cities’ Partnership Initiative concluded between the MDFRP and the World Bank on January 28, 2022. The report summarizes the project work, including the results of the work of 30 CPI-participating cities, and presents conclusions and recommendations on the three thematic networks and the CPI formula itself.Publication South Asia Development Update, April 2025: Taxing Times(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Growth prospects for South Asia have dimmed. The global economic environment has become more challenging and is a source of heightened downside risks. After a decade of repeated disruptions, South Asia’s buffers to cushion new shocks are slim. Tackling some of its greatest inefficiencies and vulnerabilities could help South Asia navigate this unusually uncertain outlook: unproductive agricultural sectors, dependence on energy imports, pressures from rising global temperatures, and fragile fiscal positions. For most South Asian countries, increased revenue mobilization is a prerequisite for strengthening fiscal positions. Even taking into account the particular challenges of collecting taxes in South Asian economies—such as widespread informal economic activity and large agriculture sectors—South Asian economies face larger tax gaps than the average emerging market and developing economy (EMDE). This suggests the need for improved tax policy and administration. Until fiscal positions have strengthened, the burden of climate adaptation will disproportionately fall on the private sector. If allowed sufficient flexibility, private sector adaptation could offset about one-third of the likely climate damage by 2050. This may, however, require governments to remove obstacles that prevent workers and firms from moving across locations and activities. As growth prospects dim, the challenge grows to create jobs for South Asia’s rapidly expanding working-age population. South Asia’s large diasporas could become a source of strength if their knowledge, networks, and other resources can be better tapped for investment and trade.Publication Infrastructure Monitor 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-28)The Infrastructure Monitor report covers global trends in private investment in infrastructure to inform investors, policy-makers and other practitioners. The objective is to deliver global insights on global infrastructure trends across key topics such as investment volumes, performance, blended finance, and ESG drivers, facilitating the monitoring of private infrastructure investment and its performance. These insights aim to support policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders in developing sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure while fostering effective partnerships with the private sector. Acknowledging the significant infrastructure data gap — with notable variations in coverage, quality across countries and income groups, and differences in the availability of regional breakdowns — our approach leverages the best available aggregated data from leading infrastructure databases to generate market insights while also providing context on its limitations. 2025 will be the fifth version of the report, the first under the World Bank.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.Publication Air Quality Management in Central Asia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-02)This report aims to enhance the understanding of the priorities, needs, and solutions for improving air quality (AQ) in Central Asia (CA) through local action and regional collaboration. It focuses on key components of holistic air quality management (AQM): evidence-based analytics to identify the main sources of air pollution in CA, application of modern tools to assess the impact of cost-effective measures to improve AQ, assessment of the institutional and governance setup for AQM in CA with recommendations to strengthen it, and approaches to financing AQ improvement. Given the lack of comprehensive systematic and validated emission inventories of all PM2.5 precursor emissions, the technical assessment employs the regional emission inventory of the Greenhouse Gas - Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model. Input data were updated for this study based on recent energy statistics and relevant national surveys. This report addresses emissions and the regional transboundary flows of pollution between Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Subsequently, the resulting PM2.5 concentrations in ambient air throughout CA were computed with the atmospheric chemistry and transport calculations of the GAINS model. Employing the source apportionment results of the GAINS model, the analysis then examines the contributions to PM2.5 population exposure. The report also presents source apportionment analyses for important air pollution hot spots in CA: Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Bishkek (the Kyrgyz Republic), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Samarkand (Uzbekistan), Astana, and Almaty (Kazakhstan).