Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Infrastructure as a Foundation for Job Creation
of major rail and road links and bridges; renewal of the fleet of the vehicles, 
railway locomotives, and carriage fleet; and the purchase of new mid- and 
long-distance passenger airplanes. 
In March 2015, Presidential Resolution No 2313, 
On the Program of Development 
and Modernization of Engineering-Communication and Road Transport in 
the Period 2015–2019
was issued (Government of Uzbekistan 2015b). The 
document approved the construction of sections of the Uzbek national 
arterial road and other roads for general use. It also outlined measures to
(i) build and reconstruct several sections of motor roads, bridges, overpasses, 
and road junctions; (ii) purchase in the next 5 years, 993 units of new road 
repair equipment needed to maintain and carry out routine road repairs; 
(iii) purchase road construction equipment for more than 150 projects; 
and (iv) build and reconstruct 1,800 km of the Uzbek National highway 
and roundabouts for several towns, and modernize roads for local use. The 
resolution also supports the creation of railway assets, including constructing 
a new railway line Navoi–Kanimekh–Misken, rehabilitating 240 km of rail track, 
electrifying several railway sections, purchasing high-speed trains, organizing 
high-speed traffic on new routes, and purchasing locomotives. The state 
investment program for the fiscal year 2017/18 aimed to allocate $1.006 billion 
for financing the railroad projects (Government of Uzbekistan 2016).
Several government programs and policies on transport infrastructure were also 
put into action in 2017. A comprehensive 5-year program to improve transport 
infrastructure and diversify foreign trade routes was adopted specifically 
for three transport corridors: Uzbekistan–Turkmenistan–Iran–Oman, 
Uzbekistan–Kyrgyz Republic–PRC, and the trans-Afghanistan transport route. 
The Turkmenabad–Farab railway and road bridges across the Amu Darya, 
which were opened recently, doubled the volume of cargo transport among 
the Central Asian countries and increased the possibility of transport and 
communication linkages with more countries (Kharimova 2018).
Uzbekistan’s domestic road freight and passenger traffic are expected to grow 
at a rate faster than its current GDP. This will be a result of increased per capita 
income combined with improved roads due to increased resources earmarked 
for road construction and maintenance, and modernization of facilities. At 
the assumed high economic growth rate of nearly 8% annually, the volume of 
freight traffic is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 9.2% until 2030. This 
would be an overall increase of 4.4 times, from 1,387 million tons in 2013 to 
6,041 million tons in 2030. Road transport is expected to have an average 
annual increase of 9.4%, from 1,259 million tons in 2013 to 5,812 million tons 

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