Astana airport repairs to cost $45.6 mln - minister

ASTANA. May 30 (Interfax) - The Astana international airport needs major repairs that will cost 20.3 billion tenge or $45.6 million at the current rate, Kazakh Industry and Infrastructure Development Minister Marat Karabayev said.

"The existing runway of the Astana airport was put into operation 20 years ago. Since then, maintenance and routine repairs have only been done on the airfield pavement. But it is now in a poor condition because two repair cycles have been delayed. To rectify the situation, design and estimate documentation has been developed to carry out a project for overhaul and modernization of the Astana airport infrastructure, and such documentation has been approved by the state expertise," Karabayev said at a Tuesday meeting of the government in Astana.

According to the presentation shown at the government meeting, the first stage of this project will cost 11.5 billion tenge involving major repairs of the runway and the second stage will require 8.8 billion tenge for major repairs of taxiways and the airfield drainage system.

The Industry and Infrastructure Development Ministry is preparing documentation as necessary to submit an application for financing to the Finance Ministry, Karabayev said.

The chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee, Talgat Lastayev, told journalists on the sidelines of the Majilis meeting that the whole project would be financed from the government budget.