Kazakh road network: President Nursultan Nazarbayev has instructed Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund to earmark KZT321bn (US$1.76bn) over the next two years to improve the country’s major road networks, including the Centre-South highway linking Astana to Almaty via Karaganda and Balkhash, the Centre-East route linking Astana to Akta via Pavlodar and the Centre-West road from Astana to Aktau via Arkalyk,Torgai, Shalkar and Beineu. The World Bank, the EBRD, the ADB and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) are expected to provide a further KZT 760bn (US$4.2bn) for road improvements over the next five years. Astana Times