First Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Kairbek Uskenbayev spoke about measures to provide the population with high-quality drinking water and wastewater services at the press conference following the Government meeting.

As noted by Uskenbayev, a special program has been developed for the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Shymkent, under which 30 billion tenge will be allocated annually to provide suburban settlements with high-quality drinking water. This year, the implementation of these projects has already begun.

He informed that out of 10.6 million urban population, 10 million today have a full-fledged centralized water supply. Of the 7.7 million rural people, 6.5 million people have access to centralized water supply.

About 1.2 million people in villages with a population of less than 200 people are not provided with water supply services that meet sanitary standards. According to Uskenbayev, leading backwaters there is a big expense that no state can afford. However, every village, be it small or large, must be provided with water. In this regard, it is planned to deliver block modules that allow water to be delivered in accordance with sanitary standards. Thus, 1.2 million people in 2,607 villages will be provided with water supply services. At the same time, water will be delivered to each house, and akimats will know how much each house consumes.

The ministry will also replace 100% of pipes. This will fundamentally solve the problem of wear. As the first vice minister noted, the water tariff will be unchanged.

“Here there is a water tariff, and we offer monopolists to keep 30% of it as an investment program (for pipe replacement), 70% will be sent for maintenance and administrative expenses. Now calculations are underway, the proportions may fluctuate. In 15 years, we need to replace all pipes. Under the budget program, every three years, 20% of pipes will be updated. So we will thus update 100% of the pipes in this period. The service life of the pipe is 30 years,” said Uskenbayev.

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