Six regional airports to be renovated on a PPP basis by 2030

By 2030, it is planned to renovate six airports in the regions of Uzbekistan on the basis of public-private partnership. The head of state stated this on October 16, speaking at the opening ceremony of the 25th session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization in Samarkand.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that over the past two years, 800 infrastructure projects in the tourism sector have been implemented. In particular, more than $1 billion has been invested in improving the tourism infrastructure of Samarkand.

The number of foreign tourists coming to Uzbekistan has doubled, and income from the export of tourism services has quadrupled. For example, this year the number of tourists from Japan has increased 5 times, from India and Italy – 3.5 times, and from the USA – 2 times.

The President announced the development of a strategy for the integrated development of tourism until 2030. By this time, the number of foreign tourists is planned to increase to 15 million people, domestic tourists – to 25 million.

In addition, for the Tashkent-Samarkand and Navoi-Bukhara routes, six high-speed trains will be purchased and an additional 600 km of railways will be built. From 2025, high-speed traffic will be established on the Tashkent-Khiva route, and by 2026 the line will be extended to Nukus.

In addition, the construction of toll highways in the Tashkent-Samarkand and Tashkent-Andijan directions on a PPP basis will halve travel time.

By 2030, it is planned to purchase 56 airliners, which will increase the number of aircraft in the fleet to 100. The number of flights will increase fourfold.

As part of the PPP, six major airports in the regions will be upgraded. Also, an “open skies” regime will be introduced in all air harbors.

According to the president, within the framework of the national program “Pearls of Ancient History,” the number of cultural heritage sites will increase from 800 to 2,500, 745 objects will be restored, and open-air museums will be created in 20 architectural monuments.