Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov within the framework of his working trip to Abay region flew over the territory of the natural reserve “Semey Ormany”, where he checked the fulfillment of the instructions of the Head of State on the restoration of the burnt pine forest and fire prevention, solving problems in forestry.

Today, in order to eliminate the consequences of a large forest fire that occurred in June last year, in which the fire affected about 66 thousand hectares of forest area, the work on forest reproduction is being carried out.

Prime Minister inspected the complex of forest nursery and forest seed station on the territory of the natural reserve, where using modern Swedish equipment pine seedlings with closed root system are grown using accelerated technology. The specialists harvest twice in one year - up to 3 million plantings in total. The quality of seedlings with a closed root system is higher than those grown in the traditional way, which ensures high survival rate of forest crops. On the territory of the reserve, projects are also being implemented for the cultivation and restoration of ribbon forests of the Irtysh region. Along with this, more than 70 thousand saplings were planted on the territory of the reserve “Semey Ormany” within the framework of the ecological action “Taza Kazakstan”.

In addition, in order to preserve and protect healthy plantations from the spread of stem pests and the formation of new centers of dying forest, the burned stands are cut down. In order to utilize and process burned wood, the region attracted investments in the amount of 7.5 billion tenge for the construction of a wood processing complex with the production of finished products - LDPE, chipboard, OSB, fuel briquettes. Today the procedure of registration of the land plot in the industrial zone of Semey city with the area of 55 hectares is underway. At the same time, 38.3 thousand cubic meters of round wood were harvested on the territory of the natural reserve last year. The project is planned to create 530 jobs.

Prime Minister emphasized the need for strict control over the observance of law and order on the territory of “Semey Ormana”. To date, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Security Committee with the coordination of the Prosecutor's Office have already revealed facts of illegal logging and theft of timber.

"Last year there was a very serious fire - 66 thousand hectares we lost. This is the tenth part of the Seme Ormana of the entire area, so the prevention of forest fires is a very serious task. This year, on the instructions of the President, we started a program to equip with equipment the structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and forestry, which are the first to take a blow. We will continue this program and equip you with modern equipment. One more important point I wanted to mention is about those organized criminal groups that work on illegal logging. They must be fought. You know better than I do that they exist. I know that there are even threats to individual employees to allow them to engage in illegal logging without hindrance. This is what we need to fight against. The Ministry of Internal Affairs needs to pay very serious attention here as well. The forest is our national treasure. Those who engage in illegal logging are enemies of the state. Here the whole state should take up and strike a blow on principle. This is your task, and the task of law enforcement agencies,” Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

Olzhas Bektenov also raised the issues of updating the material and technical base, support measures for forestry workers. Thus, within the framework of the Comprehensive Plan for 2023-2027 years on the step-by-step strengthening of material and technical equipment for the reserve “Semey Ormany” last year purchased 37 units of special vehicles for a total amount of 1.4 billion tenge, including fire trucks, small forest fire complexes, tractor, patrol car. The work continues.

In order to support workers of forestry and environmental protection organizations on the instructions of the President last year, the salaries of 12,876 employees of the state forest guard were increased by 100%. This year, by the Government's resolution, from July 1, employees of forestry and nature protection organizations of the country started to receive salary increments. Employees of forest fire stations, forest institutions, nature protection and forest surveying organizations receive up to 100% salary increments. In total, about 3.3 thousand employees are covered by the additional payment. For 2024-2027, 8.4 billion tenge is provided from the national budget for these purposes.

Head of the Government emphasized the importance of fire safety and instructed to ensure constant combat readiness of forces and means of firefighting services of the reserve “Semey Ormany”, Emergency Situations Department of the region and Akimat.

"We pay special attention to the issue of preservation of forest areas and firefighting measures. We must not allow the tragedy to repeat itself. It is important to implement preventive measures in full - not on paper, but in practice. For this purpose, we will continue to equip the reserve, including the installation of early detection system of forest fires,” Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources together with the Akimat of Abay region and interested state bodies are instructed to continue work on material and technical equipment and forest reproduction in “Semey Ormani”, as well as to provide support in the implementation of the project for the development of the burned area.

For reference: To date, 32 mobile groups numbering 132 people have been created in Abay region for prevention of natural fires and timely response. The Kazaviaspass helicopter is on duty and patrolling of the territory is carried out. 404 raids were conducted, 109 violators were brought to administrative responsibility.

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