Kazakhstan’s national road operator, KazAvtoZhol, has signed a loan agreement worth up to $700 million with a consortium of domestic banks to support road infrastructure development and free up financing for new national projects.

The agreement was signed during a roundtable discussion focused on financing the road sector and expanding the role of commercial banks in infrastructure development, according to primeminister.kz.

The banking consortium includes Halyk Bank, Bank CenterCredit and Eurasian Bank. The deal will expand funding opportunities for KazAvtoZhol while reducing the burden on the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK), which has previously financed road repairs and modernization.

Under the new arrangement, cooperation will extend until 2034. Halyk Bank will act as the organizer of the syndicated financing and serve as the agent bank.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin said the agreement would help redistribute credit exposure among financial institutions and free up part of the DBK’s lending capacity for new priority infrastructure projects.

He emphasized that the deal reflects Kazakhstan’s broader efforts to increase commercial banks’ involvement in financing the real economy and attract private capital to major infrastructure developments.

The agreement will not provide new loans for road construction. Instead, commercial banks will refinance KazAvtoZhol’s existing obligations to the DBK, allowing the development bank to redirect its resources toward other strategic projects.

Zhumangarin said that the mechanism will strengthen the banking sector’s role in infrastructure financing without significantly increasing government budget expenditures.