Road quality begins with modern and clear regulatory requirements

The quality of the road infrastructure is not limited to checking individual facilities. A systematic approach is needed, in which quality is assessed at all stages - from design and construction to repair and operation of roads. President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the need to review the quality assessment system for road construction and strengthen control at all stages of project implementation. Separately, the Head of State instructed to strengthen the work of the National Center for Quality of Road Assets. Quality control of road works and materials is one of the main activities for JOLSAPA. The Center's specialists conduct laboratory studies of road construction materials, assess the compliance of completed works with established requirements, and identify technological violations and defects. Since the beginning of 2026, more than 15,000 samples of road construction materials have been examined on the local road network. According to the results of laboratory tests, 32% of the samples did not meet the established requirements. In addition, 1,997 technological violations and defects have been identified on local roads since the beginning of the year: 214 of them have been eliminated, and another 1,783 remain unresolved. These indicators speak not only about the importance of the control itself, but also about the need to eliminate identified inconsistencies in a timely manner and to have clear and uniform requirements for quality assessment. In this regard, the improvement of the regulatory framework is an important part of the systemic changes in the road industry. The work on updating the regulatory and technical base of highways is carried out by KazdorNII JSC on behalf of the Committee of Highways of the Ministry of Transport. However, JOLSAPA is not a developer of the regulatory framework. The Center's task is to carry out quality control of road works and materials, identify inconsistencies and, based on control practices, identify issues that require improvement of requirements and approaches to quality assessment. This topic was also discussed at the last workshop "High-quality roads: from planning to operation". Within the framework of the three-day event, along with issues of planning, diagnostics, repair and design of roads, special attention was paid to the regulatory requirements applied in the road industry. During the discussion, the participants identified discrepancies in the requirements of the current regulatory documents and the need for their comprehensive revision. Such work will make it possible to form unified approaches to assessing the quality of road works and the materials used. A high-quality road is not only about meeting established requirements. These are modern approaches, high-quality materials, compliance with technology and effective control at all stages of road construction. JOLSAPA will continue to work on improving the quality control system for road assets and improving the effectiveness of approaches to assessing the quality of road work.