Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, is seeking to expand its public transport network by introducing new connections and improving cross-city connectivity to address severe daily traffic congestion.

The SkyTrain concept, an elevated, dual-track monorail system which would run above the city’s streets, is being proposed to complement the existing and developing metro network and planned new light rail transit (LRT) lines, providing a sound urban mobility investment with a positive socio-economic effect.

Direx Solutions was engaged to perform an independent cost benchmarking and cost adjustment study for the concept. Tasks included unit cost validation of investment costs for the proposed 42km, 20-station Almaty SkyTrain project, using international monorail comparator projects as the reference set.

The study verified initial cost estimates by reviewing project scope, technical parameters, cost structure, and cost categories included and excluded from the initial estimate. The scope also included cost adjustment and market normalisation, a review of relevant international benchmarks, risk observations and recommendations for next steps.