At the government session chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, measures were discussed to implement the instructions of the Head of State given at a recent extended meeting of the Government. The Head of the Department Serikkali Brekeshev reported on how these measures are being implemented in the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources.

First of all, the head of the ministry focused on the issue of recycling collection.

“The functions of administering the waste collection and disposing of the relevant funds have been transferred to Zhasyl Damu JSC, a subordinate organization of the Ministry with 100% state participation. Its composition of directors has been approved. It should be noted that the directors included members of the public. Also, meetings of the working group were held in a daily format with the participation of the public, business and interested government agencies on the issue of revising the salvage rates at the site of NCE Atameken,'' Serikkalu Brekeshev informed.

Serikkali Brekeshev recalled that a decision had already been made to suspend the collection of waste collection on cable and wire products until Jan. 1, 2023, with the subsequent zeroing of the waste collection rate. Work together with the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development on the revision of rates will be completed before the end of this month.

In order to develop a new Water Code, the ministry prepared a regulatory policy advisory document and initiated a public hearing procedure on it.

“An appropriate working group has been created with the participation of experts. We also started developing the concept of a new Water Code,” said the Minister of Ecology.

The main provisions of the Water Code in the new edition will be:

First. Preservation of the country's water resource potential.

Second. Determination of mechanisms that encourage water users to use water-saving technologies.

Third. Creation of a tariff setting model that encourages the use of public-private partnerships to support the development of water management infrastructure.

Fourth. Digitalization of monitoring, accounting and forecasting of the water resource potential of Kazakhstan, as well as increasing the role of science in water resources management.

Fifth. Harmonization of national legislation with the principles of international law.

The draft of the new Water Code is planned to be submitted to the Majilis of the Parliament in December next year.