Freedom to invest $250 million in Kazakhstan’s automated truck weighing system

Freedom Holding Corp. is investing approximately $250 million in the Intelligent Road Control System (ISKAD) through its subsidiary Freedom Lab. The agreement with the Ministry of Transport was reached at the 9th Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR) in Shymkent.

How the system works

ISKAD’s core elements are automated measurement stations (AMS) that measure truck weight and dimensions, record vehicle data and calculate axle loads. The system then transmits this information via secure channels to a unified platform, where it is verified, analyzed and sent to government information systems.

According to the project developers, 85 such stations currently operate in the country. The problem is that these facilities lack unified management. Freedom Lab will now serve as the system’s sole operator, conducting an inventory and modernizing the existing AMS units. It will also install 135 new stations, bringing the total to 220 stations.

The company emphasized that the system will only collect data, while the government will determine whether a violation has occurred and what penalties should be imposed. The ISKAD Situation Center will supervise AMS operations and monitor the quality of evidence gathered regarding traffic violations.

Benefits

«We are building a unified system that will cover approximately 80% of freight traffic. This represents a shift from isolated, disparate stations to an integrated chain of measurement, data verification and analytics. We estimate that this will generate an economic benefit of around 1 trillion tenge for the state by reducing damage to road infrastructure,» said Freedom Lab CEO Chingiz Kulakhmetov.

Although the project is not directly aimed at improving traffic safety, it is expected to have an indirect positive impact. Constant monitoring reduces the likelihood of risky driver behavior, Kulakhmetov said. The company estimates that the system will help prevent approximately 400 traffic accidents, 177 fatalities and more than 1,400 injuries over 10 years.

Kazakhstan takes road quality very seriously. In his Oct. 28 address to the nation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned that Kazakhstan could lose its chance to become a global transit corridor and a Eurasian logistics hub without high-quality roads and related infrastructure.

More than 500 investors and business representatives from over 40 countries attended the KGIR roundtable. At the event, they signed 22 agreements worth $4.8 billion. According to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Kazakhstan’s economy must be reimagined with advanced technologies and new industrial facilities.