SK Ecoplant Successfully Opens Almaty Ring Road in Kazakhstan

Total Length 66km, Circulating Almaty, Kazakhstan's Largest City
Planned Operation for 16 Years with Korea Expressway Corporation
Turkey, United Kingdom, Norway, etc.

SK ecoplant announced on the 19th that it opened the 'Almaty Ring Road (ig Almaty Ring Road)', the equivalent of the metropolitan area No.1 ring road in Kazakhstan, on the 16th (local time). It is also significant that this marks the successful completion of Kazakhstan's first infrastructure Public Private Partnership (PPP) project.

K EcoPlant successfully opened the Almaty Ring Road in Kazakhstan on the 16th local time. The photo shows the view of the Almaty Ring Road IC. (Photo by SK EcoPlant)

The opening ceremony held in Almaty on the day was attended by Karabayev Marat, Minister of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development (MIID), Cho Jeong-sik, Head of SK ecoplant Eco Solution BU, Park Nae-cheon, Consul General of Kazakhstan, and other government and project officials from both countries.

The Almaty Ring Road in Kazakhstan is 66 km long (4 to 6 lanes), with a total project cost of 740 million USD (approximately 950 billion KRW) and construction costs of 540 million USD (approximately 700 billion KRW). SK ecoplant participated in the project by forming a consortium with Korea Expressway Corporation and two Turkish construction companies, Alarko and Makyol. In addition to the consortium members, KIND (Korea Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation) also participated as an additional investor.

Notably, this project is a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) type PPP, where after completion and operation, the project is transferred to the government. SK ecoplant, together with Korea Expressway Corporation, will operate the road for the next 16 years. The Kazakhstan government adopted the AP (Availability Payment) method, which guarantees fixed income, eliminating risks related to traffic volume fluctuations and enabling stable operational revenue generation.

The Almaty Ring Road project applied an Intelligent Transportation Payment System (ITPS) at toll gates, enhancing the efficiency of Almaty road operation and management through automated unmanned toll collection.

Cho Jeong-sik, Head of SK ecoplant Eco Solution BU, said, "We are pleased to have once again succeeded in a large-scale overseas project following the Eurasia Undersea Tunnel and the ?anakkale Bridge, gaining global recognition for our advanced technology and construction capabilities." He added, "Based on our experience with PPP projects carried out in various countries across Europe and Asia, we will create opportunities to secure additional overseas projects."