On April 7, 2026, during the Shanghai Almaty Business Forum, the Almaty Urban Development Center, Integrated Construction KZ, and Shanghai Research Institute officially signed a transportation cooperation agreement. Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng and Almaty Mayor Darhan Satibadi jointly attended the signing ceremony. The agreement focuses on three major directions: refined analysis of vehicle quantity, introduction of digital transportation tools, and development of modern urban traffic management solutions. This cooperation aims to use China's urban governance experience to help Almaty alleviate traffic congestion and improve the ecological environment, setting a new benchmark for the construction of smart cities in Central Asia.

Population surged by 60% in eight years, exacerbating travel pressure

Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 2.348 million as of January 2026, an increase of over 60% compared to 2012. The rapid population expansion has led to an increasingly acute contradiction between transportation demand and road carrying capacity. As an important transportation hub in Central Asia, Almaty's road, railway, and aviation networks undertake a large number of cross-border transportation tasks. Traffic congestion not only affects the daily travel of citizens, but also seriously restricts logistics efficiency and economic development. This week, the Almaty municipal government has instructed comprehensive control of air pollution sources such as transportation to address the continuously deteriorating ecological environment. This signing is a direct response to local governance demands.

Vehicle analysis and digital tools become a key focus of cooperation

The transportation cooperation agreement signed this time specifies three major directions for technological cooperation. Firstly, conduct a detailed analysis of the number of vehicles and use big data methods to understand the urban motor vehicle ownership, travel patterns, and distribution of congestion nodes. Secondly, introduce digital transportation tools and explore the standardized operation of new modes of transportation such as electric scooters and shared bicycles in the urban transportation system. Thirdly, develop modern urban traffic management solutions, including intelligent signal light control, dynamic path guidance, real-time traffic information dissemination, and other systems. These measures will form a full chain governance loop from data collection, analysis to decision execution, effectively improving the operational efficiency of Almaty's road network. Key words: the Belt and Road news network, China Kazakhstan cooperation, transportation

Shanghai model goes global to explore the space of smart cities in Central Asia

Shanghai has accumulated rich experience in urban transportation planning and digital governance, and this time it is exporting a comprehensive solution to Almaty through a consortium model. The Almaty Urban Development Center and the integrated construction KZ will be responsible for localizing the cooperation results and promoting the modernization and upgrading of local transportation infrastructure. Currently, many Central Asian countries are actively promoting the digitalization and interconnection of transportation. Shanghai's technological advantages in intelligent transportation systems, big data analysis, and IoT applications are highly complementary to the actual needs of Almaty. This cooperation is not only an important practice of China's urban governance plan going global, but also opens up new paths for domestic technology enterprises and service providers to expand into the Central Asian market.Editor/Gao Xue