The importance of economic diversification of single-industry towns was highlighted in his speech during the Government session by the Minister of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kanat Sharlapayev. 

According to the Minister, today in 14 single-industry towns of the country operate more than 1.5 thousand enterprises (the share in the country - 5.2%), their workload is from 70% to 100%.

In 2023, the volume of production of these enterprises totalled 18.5 trillion tenge or 40% of the total republican indicator.

"Special attention in the development of single-industry towns is paid to the implementation of new investment projects. Last year, 8 projects were launched (170 projects in total) for the amount of 268 billion tenge. More than 800 jobs were created," Sharlapayev reported.

For example, Bogatyr Komir introduced a new technology of coal transportation (investment volume - 97.4 billion tenge). This project will improve working conditions for about 7 thousand workers and increase coal production from 42 million to 50 million tonnes. 

This year, according to the Minister, 4 investment projects worth over 100 billion tenge and with the creation of about a thousand permanent jobs are being implemented. 

"I would like to dwell on the creation of a belt of small and medium-sized businesses around large enterprises in single-industry towns. If earlier this work was carried out on a voluntary basis, now we fix in the legislation the task of creating a belt of small businesses around large enterprises and the conclusion of long-term offteik-contracts with them," Sharlapayev said.

According to him, as of today 20 long-term contracts for the amount of 24.5 billion tenge and 13 offteik-contracts for the amount of 47.3 billion tenge have been concluded between large customers and domestic manufacturers in single-industry towns.

Under the current mechanism, a number of single-industry town enterprises have concluded agreements with suppliers to supply the required volume of raw materials at favourable prices. The mechanism is being improved. According to the Minister, in order to attract additional investment in the development of single-industry towns, a number of works in the field of geology are being carried out. 

"According to the results of the state geological study conducted in the period from 2020 to 2022, resources with an estimated value of 1.1 trillion tenge have been discovered in the vicinity of single-industry towns. Private investments worth KZT28.7bn have been attracted for exploration of these territories. This year we plan to complete prospecting works on 5 promising areas near the cities of Abay, Kurchatov, Balkhash, Altai," Sharlapayev reported.

The Minister also paid attention to the importance of diversification of the economy of single-industry towns on the example of the development of Saran.

Speaking about the city of Ekibastuz, the head of the Ministry noted that its development is based on three major areas. These are clusters of energy, metallurgy and railway production.

"The development of the energy sector is associated with the increase in the capacity of Ekibastuz SDPP. The development of the metallurgical sector will be ensured due to the decision to create an industrial zone. A ferroalloy production plant (capacity of 160,000 tonnes), a steel smelting plant (capacity of 3 million tonnes) and an iron production plant (capacity of 2 million tonnes) will be built here," Sharlapayev said.

According to him, 800 jobs will be created during the construction period and 4,000 during the operational period. More than 100 billion tenge of investments are expected to be attracted.  

As part of the creation of the railway cluster, the project ‘Construction of forge and bandage complex’ was launched. Investments of 75 billion tenge have been attracted. About 700 jobs will be created. 

Regarding housing and communal services, according to the Minister, there are 43.5 thousand people on the waiting list for housing in single-industry towns.

"In 2023, a total of 10.7 thousand rental flats will be purchased across the country, of which 673 flats will be purchased in single-industry towns. In order to ensure a fair approach, there is a requirement for akimats to distribute funds to districts and cities proportionally according to the number of people on the waiting list," Sharlapayev said.

Also provided for the issuance of at least 2 thousand loans for housing in the secondary market in single-industry towns, district centres and large villages at the expense of repayable funds of JSC ‘Otbasy Bank’. In addition, within the framework of regional programs in the period from September 1, 2023 JSC ‘Otbasy Bank’ signed cooperation agreements with 3 akimats of Aksu, Temirtau and Ayagoz. At the same time, within the framework of corporate programmes, cooperation agreements on implementation of rental housing with subsequent purchase for employees were concluded with 5 city-forming enterprises.

"Today the level of drinking water availability in 5 single-industry towns is over 91%. They will be provided with 100 per cent by the end of 2025," Sharlapayev said.

The total length of heat supply networks in single-industry towns is 2.8 thousand kilometres. In 2023, 173 kilometres of heat networks will be repaired. This year it is planned to repair 57.6 km of networks.

In addition, today in 18 single-industry towns akimats are developing design and construction plans for the construction and reconstruction of sewage treatment facilities. The projects will be financed from the republican budget, at the expense of bonded loans of NUH Baiterek JSC and loans of international financial organisations.

#Government session #Investments #SME