An update on transport and infrastructure developments in Central Asia.

A Chinese company, Shipbuilding Industry Corp., is exploring the possibility of building container facilities at the Kazakh port cities of Aktau and Kuryk, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport. A ministry statement added that China Railways Group Ltd. has “expressed interest in projects to modernize existing [routes] and build new railway lines.” Discussions have so far yielded no specific deals. 

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, representatives of Kyrgyz Railways (KTZ) say freight rail traffic in the country experienced a 15 percent increase during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with the same period the previous year. Cargo traversing Kyrgyz rails during the January-October period amounted to 7.45 million tons, according to KTZ.  The “implementation of multimodal corridors,” including plans to develop a new China-Uzbek-Kyrgyz line, helped boost cargo traffic, KTZ added. The new project has had trouble attracting investors. At a recent press conference, KTZ Deputy Director Dastan Usubakunov put the price tag of the China-Uzbek-Kyrgyz railway at $4 billion.

In aviation developments, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry announced that a Chinese carrier, Loong Air, was set to operate a new route between Bishkek and Chengdu starting December 12. Initial plans call for two flights per week between the two cities. 

Elsewhere, Chinese and Tajik officials held talks on opening a new air connection between the two states.

Source: Eurasianet

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The Burden of Fetching Water

A water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) survey in 2017 found that two thirds of rural households in Tajikistan had no piped water supply.

Project data suggests that in almost 90% of these households, women and girls are solely responsible for water collection, which is physically demanding and comes at the expense of education, employment, and quality time with family. University student Fayzigul Qudustzodafrom Gulgasht village relays:

“I love to read literature, but I couldn’t find the time for reading because after school I had to fetch water. Now that we have a piped connection, I can spend more time on my studies, read, and learn new things. I’m so happy about that.”

Fayzigul lives in one of the 50,000 households in the Vose District recently connected to running water through the World Bank-financed Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSS) that is focused on some of the poorest areas in the country’s southern Khalton Region.

Without running water, residents’ health is threatened. Nurse Rohila Qurbonova, from the neighboring Chorbog village, emphasized that most of the hygiene advice she provided to her patients did not make much sense without access to a clean water supply. She could not stop children from drinking water from open canals during the hot summer months, even though she knew that this exposed them to various waterborne diseases. And Rohila has observed that many women experienced pregnancy complications after lugging heavy 20-liter water buckets.

Poor sanitation and inadequate access to safe water is costly, much more so than investing in quality services and infrastructure—the investment gap to achieve adequate water and sanitation services in Tajikistan is 1.25% of GDP versus 4.25% of GDP in economic costs.

Large-Scale Investments Needed

Tajikistan is a water rich country, but its water infrastructure requires extensive investment. The country has the lowest share of population in Central Asia—around 55%—with access to safely managed water supply services. And there are serious disparities between urban and rural areas, with only 24% of Tajikistan’s rural population covered by piped water supply services. And where piped service does exist, the infrastructure is often old, largely dilapidated and has a limited capacity to expand to match population growth.

Tajikistan’s water supply sector faces significant challenges due to decades of underinvestment and a lack of proper operation and maintenance. According to estimates, Tajikistan will need a minimum investment of $800 million to ensure access to safe water supply services for the whole population by 2030. The country currently allocates around 0.2% of GDP from its annual budget to water supply and sanitation—significantly below the average of 1.5–2%in Europe and Central Asia.

Toward Better Health and Prosperity

That is why investments like RWSS create such impactful change in communities’ lives. Two water supply systems have already been modernised and expanded to supply 50,000 people across 17 villages of Vose with safe water piped to households, while another system is being tested to serve 21,000 more district residents Eventually, RWSS will connect around 400,000 rural inhabitants of Khatlon Region to piped water.

When Zarnigor Olimzoda, principal of Vose School No.2, moved with her husband to Vose from Dushanbe, there was no running water. As daughter-in-law, she was responsible for carrying water for her household from a nearby ditch. Every morning before going to school to teach chemistry and biology, she would fetch 100 buckets of water for their cattle and other livestock. After work she had to fetch water again. “I am ecstatic that even though it was difficult for me in the past, the younger generation of our community will no longer be affected by the lack of water.”

About 130 rural schools and health centers will receive access to piped water and improved sanitary facilities with RWSS support. Only half of rural schools in Tajikistan have access to running water, with almost 60% using pit latrines with slabs as toilets. And only 2% of schools have water available in girls’ lavatories for menstrual hygiene. Evidence globally suggests that poor WASH facilities in schools are likely to impact girls’ attendance, particularly at higher grades, leading to poorer learning outcomes and increased school dropouts.

Robiya Nazarova, who studies in Vose School No.2, believes that hot running water and privacy are a huge boost for school attendance—a view echoed by Principal Olimzoda: “The best thing is that we will have modern toilets with project support. Next to the toilets there will be hygiene rooms with hot and cold water essential for girls during menstruation.”

Changing Lives and Attitudes

Rallying community support and bolstering the capacity of national and local water supply institutions, which are integral components to RWSS, will help make new rural water supply and sanitation services sustainable–breaking a once vicious circle of low service quality, low willingness to pay, and underfunded operating budgets. Investments and institutional reforms coupled with public education and behaviour change campaigns targeting communities and schools are crucial in changing rural livelihoods, producing accountability, getting community buy-in and incentivizing reinvestment.

Zebogul Nazarova, head of the Okhjar village in Vose and the mother of 11 children, has been instrumental in organising community support for RWSS in her village. She stressed that residents “need to value clean water and raise funds to maintain the systems[because] it costs money to treat water and supply it.”

Farzona Mukhitdinova, the World Bank’s RWSS task team leader, says that the project “is not just about connecting households to piped water, but also about helping communities to appreciate, manage, and utilize water more effectively.” Looking forward, Farzona hopes that access to safe drinking water will create a foundation for investments to better living conditions of Tajikistan’s rural population: “Improved access to water will also contribute to the local economy by creating jobs for plumbers, water operators, electricians, and other important personnel needed to maintain the new infrastructure and provide essential services.”

Source : Relief Web

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It’s a challenge to switch on the economic and investment news for Cambodia and filter through which projects will actually materalise.

New airports though are coming – as many as six airport projects were explored for the period 2019 to 2024 to further promote the aviation sector, which in turn promotes tourism and national economic growth.

The four new airports that are under development have a combined investment worth approximately USD $2.8 billion.

Nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s 17 million inhabitants lived in urban areas by the end 2022, but this number is set to grow to nearly 8 million people by 2030.

Coupled with the government’s hopes that tourism will keep growing and surpass pre-pandemic levels over the coming years, it makes sense for the network of airports to be increased for greater international and domestic connectivity.

What Airports Are On The Rise In Cambodia
At the start of 2023, the fourth greenfield airport in the Kingdom was confirmed to go ahead on Koh Rong, adding to the Dara Sakor International Airport, Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, and Techo International Airport, all of which are invested in by the private sector.

A recent development report indicated that as many as 13 airports were in conversation across the country, and there is a strong case that this is too many for a country the size of Cambodia. There are three current active and international airports serving domestic and international flights, which have all undergone some form of refurbishment and upgrades over recent years.

The sudden rush to interconnect the country locally and within the region has also seen simultaneous upgrades to deep sea ports, the addition of new tourism ports, possible new and expensive train links and highways – there is a frantic rush to attract investment into infrastructure.

Siem Reap Angkor International Airport
The new international airport in Siem Reap was confirmed in 2019, and construction has been underway at Soutr Nikom district, approximately 51 km southeast of Siem Reap and 40 km from UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park.

The airport is significantly larger than the current operational airport in Siem Reap, and will cover 700ha with an estimated cost of USD $900 million.

The airport is invested in by Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co., Ltd, an affiliate of China’s Yunnan Investment Holdings Ltd who hold the rights to a 55-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The group confirmed at the start of 2023, that the airport would be open before the end of the year.

As a 4E-level airport, Siem Reap Angkor International Airport should be able to accommodate aircraft such as A340-300, A350-900, B777-200, B777-300ER, B747-300 and B747-400.

Techo Takhmao International Airport
The rapid expansion of urban areas in Cambodia, and especially in the case of Phnom Penh, meant there was nowhere for the current international airport to grow, so it makes sense that with increased travel demand – a new airport was possibly needed.

Although the new airport is exciting, one of the real benefits for all these years has been the quick and easy access to the existing airport in the capital for tourists, foreign residents and Cambodians.

The Techo Takhmao International Airport, located around 35 kilometres south of Phnom Penh, is a joint venture between the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, the Cambodian government, and the SSCA – called the Cambodia Airport Investment Co.

By mid-2022, construction of the new international airport was one-third complete, and like the other airports under development, has fallen behind schedule with the pandemic being blamed. Current plans are for the construction to be completed by 2024, with the airport to be operational by 2025.

Changi Airport Group provided a boost of confidence to the ambitious plans for the airport – which will be the ninth largest in the world – and as a 4F class designated airport it would allow for larger aircraft to make use of the transport hub in the capital.

The project spans over 2,600 hectares, and according to the master plan, the airport will handle 13 million passengers a year in the first phase, 30 million passengers in the second phase by 2030, and up to 50 million passengers in 2050 in the third phase.

OCIC says the new airport is planned to contain hotels, a convention center, office buildings, an ecological park as well as private housing, adding that it will be connected to the city by a motorway, and ultimately with an elevated rail line.

Koh Rong International Eco-Tourism Airport
Somewhat surprisingly, in early 2023, the news of Koh Rong International Eco-Tourism Airport was announced with the development expected to cost USD $300 million.

The project will be led by Royal Group Koh Rong Development Company, and the Koh Rong International Eco-Tourism Airport is expected to take five years to complete.

The Cambodian islands remain a key tourist destination for local and international travellers. Even though “Eco-Tourism” appears in the new airport’s name – it wont dissuade critics of the plan and how the project will potentially impact the environment and ecosystem which will be keenly monitored.

Mao Havannal, the Minister in charge of the State Secretariat of Cambodian Civil Aviation confirmed that the development falls under the government approved framework of a multi-purpose joint venture for Koh Rong city.

Initial plans are for the airport to be a 4C class international airport, meaning that the airport can accommodate the larger aircraft for international long haul flights. The master plan anticipates passenger growth reaching 275,314 per year in Phase 1 (a ten-year phase), followed by 265,929 passengers in Phase II, and a limit of 531,858 passengers per year after the completion of its final development.

Dara Sakor International Airport
The Dara Sakor International Airport has experienced several delays after being initially announced in 2016, and the latest estimate is that operations will start in mid-2023.

The airport is being constructed near the Dara Sakor resort, in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district under a similar agreement to the Koh Rong International Eco-Tourism Airport, but in this case the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) are leading the project.

The airport is expected to be able to accommodate Code E aircraft (such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A340), with 4 helicopter terminals, and capacity for 7 million passengers and 10,000 tons of air cargo per year.

The airport covers 4.5 hectares and has an expected development cost of USD $350 million (although there has been no recent update taking into account the delays.)

What Do These Airports Mean For The Construction And Real Estate Sector?
Prime Minister Hun Sen recently said the new Siem Reap International Airport will play a major role in increasing the country’s economy and tourism when it opens in late 2023.

“This large-scale international airport will bring a boost to the economic development in our northern region, including the provinces of Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom, and Preah Vihear,” he said.

It goes without saying that the construction and development of the airports lead to a number of associated projects such as improved infrastructure, additional retail, F&B, accommodation etc – not only on-site but in the surrounding areas.

This will increase demand for cargo facilities, hotels, guest houses and other forms of short term accommodation, restaurants, cafes & bars, and the spillover from the construction of new improved transport links will see petrol/gas/EV charging stations, roadstop cafes and more.

Airports attract the need for industrial space, and specialised cold storage facilities, warehouses, data centres, mass food production facilities.

Cambodian international airports in 2023, serve 24 destinations and 11 countries which are not yet at the pre-pandemic level.

Once new airports come online, and new routes & destinations are added, with the support of well-placed advertising campaigns & additional quality tourist attractions, Cambodia could well be set for an unprecedented boon in tourism numbers and investment over the coming decade.

Source: khmertimeskh

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