Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev held the first meeting of the Project Office for the implementation of the Energy and Utilities Sector Modernisation National Project.

The National Project is aimed at reducing the failure rate of infrastructure and ensuring uninterrupted provision of public services. As of today, the depreciation of energy and utility infrastructure of 87 monopolistic enterprises in the spheres of heat, electricity, water supply and water disposal ranges from 65 to 100 per cent. Thus, the Project Office is tasked with reducing the wear and tear of utility networks to 40 per cent and building new sources of power generation (an additional 7.3 GW).

The investment needs until 2029 for modernisation of utility networks will amount to 6.8 trillion tenge and 6.2 trillion tenge for power generation. Funds will be attracted from the BVU, national financial development institutions and international financial organisations. The NUH Baiterek JSC is responsible for creating a mechanism for financing natural monopolies, reviewing applications for preferential financing or subsidies. Monitoring and control over project implementation and construction and installation works are assigned to Kazcentre Housing and Utilities JSC.

The National Project pays special attention to the development of domestic industry with 100% utilisation of existing enterprises with the creation of 27 new industries and jobs. The Ministry of Industry and Construction has been instructed to develop a specific list of goods, works and services produced by domestic manufacturers, to launch a single electronic form of procurement with the introduction of a register of unfair participants.

The meeting separately discussed support measures for the category of SUSN. Solvent strata of the population should pay for public utilities at fair, market rates. Vulnerable segments of the population will be protected from the growth of tariffs through an automated system of housing assistance. The relevant ministries have been instructed to work out the issue of establishing a threshold of maximum allowable expenses on utility payments up to 5% of the total family income for socially vulnerable strata, to unify the applicable norms of housing area, consumption of utilities per person to increase the number of recipients of housing assistance.

"Problems in the energy and utilities sector are among the most acute and require a comprehensive and prompt solution. I instruct the Ministry of National Economy together with interested state bodies and organisations to submit a detailed Roadmap for the implementation of the National Project to the Government Apparatus within two weeks," Kanat Bozumbayev said.

Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the successful implementation of the national project will require close cooperation between ministries, akimats and the private sector, as well as the active participation of citizens.

"In this regard, the Ministries of National Economy, Energy, Industry and Construction together with the Ministry of Culture and Information, interested government agencies and organisations need to conduct a large-scale explanatory work among the population, business community, subjects of natural monopolies with a briefing for journalists in the third decade of January," Kanat Bozumbayev noted.

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