Almaty ring road will have a toll

Big Almaty Ring Road will be a toll road, Kolesa.kz writes citing deputy director of the Car Transport Department of Kazakhstan Transport Ministry Satzhan Ablaliyev. “It will cost the drivers 6-12 tenge ($0.04-0.08) per kilometer to drive on the Big Almaty Ring Road, depending on the car type. We plan to equip the road with video and electronic recording system and the drivers will have to pay when they exit the road after the system calculates the total kilometers driven. The pilot system will be tested on Astana-Borovoye road,” Ablaliyev said. He added that the payment will not be introduced the first several months after putting the Big Almaty Ring Road into exploitation. “People will get used to it, feel the difference and understand that avoiding traffic jams and driving comfortably is worth paying for, I think, there will be no problems with the flow of 'clients',” Ablaliyev added. According to him, the speed cap at Almaty ring road will be 140 km/h. Construction of Big Almaty Ring Motorway will start in 2014 and expected to be completed in 2.5-3 years.