Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — A high-speed Tashkent–Nukus train is planned to be launched from March 2027, cutting the journey time from 16 hours to seven.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this at a meeting on the social and economic development of Karakalpakstan held in Nukus.
The president said projects to develop transport and social infrastructure are continuing in the republic. According to him, a sanatorium has been commissioned in the Bozatau district, an Oncology and Radiology Centre in Nukus, and a children's hospital and maternity home in the Kungrad district.
He also said amphitheatres seating 2,000 each have opened in the Amudarya and Turtkul districts, along with a gymnastics centre and a branch of the conservatory in Nukus.
Mirziyoyev said a concrete surface has been laid at a cost of US$384 million on the 240-kilometre section of the A-380 international highway running through the Kungrad district.
According to him, construction work worth US$233 million has begun on a further 92 kilometres of the route in the Turtkul, Ellikkala and Beruniy districts.
The president noted that once the project is completed, the volume of transit traffic will increase 1.5-fold, and cargo delivery time from Turtkul to the border with Kazakhstan will be cut from a day to 10 hours.
He also said there are plans to reconstruct the Tuyamuyun water treatment facility and build a 100-kilometre water pipeline from Kungrad to Moynaq.
Separately, the president pointed to the need to use Karakalpakstan's land, mineral and energy resources to produce high value-added goods.
According to him, the authorities will for this purpose draw up a new industrial and investment map on the "from resource to finished product" principle, and the Kungrad — Karauzyak — Takhtiatash direction is planned to be turned into a "green industrial corridor" and a "triangle of intellectual economy".
Mirziyoyev said six projects with a total value of US$8 billion are expected to be implemented in a special zone for artificial intelligence and data centre projects, and instructed the responsible agencies to draw up a five-year programme and provide investors with a stable 1-gigawatt electricity supply.
The president said 1,500 high-income jobs are planned to be created in Nukus, Kungrad, Karauzyak and Takhtiatash over three years.
According to him, the authorities also aim to bring annual exports of services in cloud technology and artificial intelligence to US$600 million.
