Transformation of transport-geographic space of Central Asian countries in the Post-Soviet era

The structural and morphological restructuring of the transport-geographic systems of the countries of Central Asia has become a reflection of the radical transformation of the geopolitical space of the region in the post-Soviet era. From the very beginning of a new period of development in the countries of the region, the disintegration of a single (end-to-end) road transport framework that developed during the Soviet period was consistently taking place. This was due to the desire of the countries of the region to minimize their own transport dependence on neighbors, while simultaneously enhancing transport-logistics advantages to exert geopolitical pressure on neighboring states. Under the influence of the corresponding geostrategic landmarks, the countries of the region have consistently built a new configuration of transport-logistics systems during the post-Soviet period.

The article examines the changes in the geography of the main road transport communications of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that have occurred over the past three decades. It was revealed that the most morphologically transformed transport systems of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, characterized by relatively favorable geomorphological conditions for transport construction and more significant economic opportunities. In the predominantly mountainous terrain of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which also have a significantly more modest investment potential, the transformation of the transport-geographic space has occurred to a less pronounced degree. Special attention is paid to the prospects for the reintegration of transport systems of the Central Asian countries, which emerged after 2016, in connection with the profound changes in Uzbekistan's foreign policy towards the border countries of Central Asia, initiated and consistently implemented by the new leadership of the republic, headed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Ключевые слова

transport-logistics systems, railways, highways, transport integrity of the territory, transport-geographic space, post-Soviet period

Получено

28.06.2021

Дата публикации

28.06.2021

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43576

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ГОСТ	Федорко В. Н. Transformation of transport-geographic space of Central Asian countries in the Post-Soviet era // Псковский регионологический журнал – 2021. – Выпуск 2 (46) C. 14-30 [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://prj.pskgu.ru/S221979310014232-8-1 (дата обращения: 20.04.2024). DOI: 10.37490/S221979310014232-8
MLA	Fedorko, Viktor "Transformation of transport-geographic space of Central Asian countries in the Post-Soviet era." Pskov Journal of Regional Studies 46 (2021):14-30. DOI: 10.37490/S221979310014232-8
APA	Fedorko V. (2021). Transformation of transport-geographic space of Central Asian countries in the Post-Soviet era. Pskov Journal of Regional Studies (46), pp.14-30 DOI: 10.37490/S221979310014232-8


1	Introduction. Central Asia is an original and integral political and geographical subregion of Eurasia, formed by five post-Soviet states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. The territory of these states has been developing for thousands of years as a single space in landscape-geographical, water irrigation, ethno-confessional, economic, transport relations. At the same time, the modern borders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were formed during the Soviet period. However, before the collapse of the USSR, these borders were largely formal, and the economic and infrastructural space of the region was highly integral and unified.
2	At the same time, the unity of the network of road transport communications — railways, highways, pipelines — was of great importance. Often, transport links between different regions of one republic were carried out through the territory of neighboring republics. For example, the railway connection of the Surkhandarya region with the main territory of Uzbekistan was carried out through the territory of the Chardzhou region of Turkmenistan, and the railway connection between Dushanbe and the cities of the Leninabad region of Tajikistan was carried out through the territory of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
3	The road network in the region acquired an inter-republican pattern in the conditions of a single political and geographical space during the Soviet period, when communication routes (primarily railways) between densely populated oases were laid, as a rule, along with the territory of river valleys, bypassing mountain ranges and vast deserts with complex engineering and geographical conditions for road construction. At the same time, the crossing of the borders between neighboring republics by transport communications in the conditions of a single state, such as the former USSR, did not create any obstacles to the uninterrupted movement of transport.
4	However, the state of affairs in the functioning of cross-border transport systems changed radically after the collapse of the USSR and the proclamation of independence by the republics of the region. In the new geopolitical conditions, state borders have ceased to be formal, a visa regime has been introduced between some countries of the region, in particular, between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In the 1990s, relations between the Central Asian states became very tense, complicated by serious contradictions of national geo-economic interests, primarily in the fuel and energy sector (trade-in gas, oil, and petroleum products, the functioning of the unified energy system, electricity tariffs, etc.) and water management (transformation of operation regime of reservoirs by the mountainous countries of the region — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — from irrigation and energy, supported in the Soviet period, to energy, which was due to the shortage of fuel and electricity in these states, especially in winter) [21]. The geopolitical importance of transport communications in the region has sharply increased as a factor in ensuring the territorial integrity, security, and sustainable socio-economic development of each of the Central Asian states, and at the same time as a lever of pressure on neighboring states in order to realize their own geopolitical advantages and ambitions.
5	In the post-Soviet period, the issues of developing and implementing national strategies for improving the transport and geographical position of the country and individual regions, diversifying the routes of international transport corridors through which foreign economic relations are carried out, strengthening transport independence and integrity, and modernizing transport and logistics systems have become relevant in all Central Asian states. At the same time, the key tasks for the transformation of the transport and geographical space in the Central Asian states were to a high degree identical, but the degree of severity of the corresponding problems and the possibilities of their solution in the countries of the region differed significantly. These differences were caused by the peculiarities of the economic and geographical location of states on the scale of Central Asia and neighboring regions of Eurasia, the orography and relief of the territory, the morphology of transport communications, as well as the financial and economic resources of countries in the region. The scale of implementation of the relevant tasks, which led to the restructuring of transport and logistics systems, also differs in the countries of the region, which will be discussed below, in the main part of the article.
6	The purpose of the study is to analyze the prerequisites, processes, and consequences of the structural and morphological transformation of the transport and geographical space of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, which occurred in the post-Soviet period, in the context of profound changes in the geopolitical and socio-economic situation in the region. Information about the construction of railways in the countries of the region is provided on the basis of official materials of state transport companies.

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