23.08.2023, 15:14 46856

Kazakhstan to increase LPG production this year

The measures to increase the production of liquefied petroleum gas to fully meet the needs of the domestic market were considered at the meeting in the Government under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, primeminister.kz reports.

It was noted that gas consumption is growing annually in the republic, in particular, at the end of last year this figure amounted to 1.8 million tons. About 65% of this volume was used for motor transport, 25% for industrial enterprises, 10% for the needs of the population and other areas. The projected gas consumption for 2023 is 1.9 million tons.

To cover the growing needs, a number of new promising fields are being developed, the first gas from which is planned to be obtained by the end of this year.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of constant monitoring of the situation in the fuel market and timely launch of planned projects for uninterrupted supply of citizens, industrial enterprises and social institutions.

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24.01.2025, 17:09 29326

Improving transparency of scholarship process in Kazakhstan

Images | primeminister.kz

Scholarship payments from the state are an important instrument of support for students, helping them to partially cover financial expenses and focus on their studies. In recent years, a significant step has been made towards strengthening material support for students, which is an important part of the state policy to improve access to education and stimulate academic performance, primeminister.kz reports.

Thus, from 2020 the amount of state scholarships has been doubled, with additional payments provided for excellent students, as well as for students from socially vulnerable categories: orphans and persons with disabilities.

Since 2022, according to the Education Law of RK, the responsibility for the payment of scholarships was transferred to Financial Centre JSC. However, only in 2024, due to the automation of business processes of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, it became possible to fully centralise the process of scholarship payments in organisations of higher and postgraduate education, which significantly increased the transparency and efficiency of the system.

The transfer of functions to Financial Centre JSC contributed to the introduction of a unified approach to the administration of scholarships, optimisation of labour costs and improvement of overall transparency. To minimise the risks of misuse of funds, student data is checked in several state databases.

To date, scholarships are paid on time in more than 88 higher education institutions, covering more than 200,000 students every month. Funds are transferred to the recipients' current bank accounts opened with second-tier banks or through the national postal operator. All payments are received by the end of the current month, in accordance with the established rules.

From September 2025, the amounts of state scholarships will be as follows:

for doctoral students, including Health Care - 262,500 tenge;
for resident doctors and master's students of medical specialities - 134,664 tenge;
for master's students - 117,098 tenge;
for interns - 94,862 tenge;
for students of pedagogical and medical specialities - 84,000 tenge;
for students of other specialities - 52,372 tenge;
for students of technical and vocational education (working qualifications) - 41,896 tenge;
for students of secondary technical and post-secondary education - 43,574 tenge.

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21.01.2025, 19:30 67626

Taza like, Ayala and other projects to promote environmental culture in 2025

In 2025, Kazakhstan will continue to actively work on the formation of a new eco-culture aimed at improving the environment and involving society in environmental initiatives, primeminister.kz reports.

This was reported at the Government session by Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva. She emphasised that the theme of ecology and eco-culture is under the close attention of the President.

The huge work done during this time has directly influenced the mobilisation of our country around the President's initiative and contributed to the consolidation of the concept of eco-culture among the population," the Minister said.

The Minister also spoke about the organisation of more than 15 thousand events attended by more than 90 thousand eco-volunteers. One of the most significant projects was the cleaning and improvement of historical and cultural sites within the framework of the action ‘Kieli Meken’, during which 717 memorial sites across the country were reconstructed.

Special attention was paid to public environmental monitoring. As a result of public monitoring of 300 sites, attended by more than 3 thousand people, work was carried out to clean these sites from rubbish, landscaping and improving the environment.

Taza Kazakstan should become not just a public action, but a systemic ideological position of the nation - emphasised the Minister, quoting a recent interview of the Head of State to the publication "Ana Tili". The main idea of the President is to elevate the future spiritual wealth of the nation to a worthy civilisation, to turn the soul and purity, natural harmony and human factors into its highest values of life.

The Minister also shared her plans for the near future. The first direction is the formation of a new eco-culture through the organisation of large-scale events. To share experience and knowledge, the project ‘Taza like’ will be implemented, which will unite public organisations, scientists, and all people who are not indifferent. The project will start after the National holiday Nauryz and will continue until 25 April, covering all regions of the country. Its culmination will be a large-scale eco-festival in Astana. In addition, the Ayala art festival will be held, which is aimed at attracting young people to environmental issues.

The second direction is environmental education. In addition to traditional awareness-raising work, modern technological solutions will be actively used. In particular, a new tab Eco-Events in E-gov and banking applications to widely inform the population about environmental events. The work on separate collection of rubbish and plastic products will continue. It is also proposed to expand the project of eco-hubs on the basis of youth resource centres. The Green School project will involve 500,000 schoolchildren and more than 3 million parents and their relatives.

Attention to ecology will also be paid to film production. A film project ‘38’ about foresters will be launched, as well as a series ‘Akzhauyn’ about an eco-activist who opens a rubbish processing plant and conducts various environmental actions. In addition, a national TV project ‘Sayahat Time’ will be launched, the purpose of which is to popularise a careful attitude to nature and ecologically clean places in Kazakhstan, and 3 animation projects developing environmental awareness for young viewers.

The third direction is to consolidate responsible attitude to ecology not only inside but also outside the country. A project of plogging (an ecological movement that combines jogging with rubbish collection) on the Caspian Sea embankment will be realised with the participation of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other countries.

The work is not limited to the projects above. We believe it is necessary to continue and expand the republican action on public environmental control, as well as eco-patrols with the participation of public councils, civil society, business, educational institutions, scientific institutions, media and volunteers. This will not only mobilise society, but will also give us an opportunity to develop environmental culture, a task set before us by the Head of State," the Minister summarised the report.

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21.01.2025, 17:26 67821

Taza Kazakstan action: Amendments made to the Standard Rules for improvement of cities and settlements

Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapayev reported at the Government session that within the framework of the republican environmental action Taza Kazakstan amendments were made to the Model Rules of improvement of territories of cities and settlements, primeminister.kz reports.

He noted that within this document priorities for pedestrians, disabled people, bicycle transport, requirements for the territory for walking pets and cleaning after them, installation and maintenance of bio-toilets, maintenance of roads, external appearance of buildings and structures are defined.

To strengthen the measures taken on the basis of the Model Rules, regional rules of territory improvement have been approved, which are also expanded taking into account the specifics of each region," Kanat Sharlapayev explained.

In addition, as part of the improvement of regional policy, a methodological document "Standard of integrated urban development" has been developed. The standard serves as a guide for the introduction of high-quality and affordable residential and mixed-use development, as well as for the creation of attractive and comfortable public spaces. The document will serve as a guide in the development of detailed planning projects for the development and construction of urban areas.

Kanat Sharlapayev also reported on measures to reduce the negative environmental impact of industrial enterprises. The Minister said that in accordance with the Environmental Code, 17 enterprises in the sectors supervised by the department should implement the best available technologies, which will reduce the impact on the environment and improve working conditions for employees of the enterprises.

As of today, 5 of them have approved and started phased implementation of the programmes. Also for the current year it is planned to adopt three more programmes by enterprises of metallurgical industry. In addition, there is an active participation of industrial enterprises in improving the environmental situation in the regions, including the reduction of emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere," Kanat Sharlapayev said.

It was noted that the enterprises annually participate in activities aimed at landscaping of urban and district territories, as well as landscaping of settlements.

Thus, Ulba Metallurgical Plant for the last 5 years allocated 2.7 billion tenge to reduce the negative impact on the environment.

Last year Qarmet JSC developed a long-term programme worth $3.5 billion, which also includes modernisation and reconstruction of the main technological and environmental protection equipment.

Other large industrial enterprises also carry out annual activities to strengthen measures to comply with mandatory environmental protection criteria.Enterprises annually participate in activities aimed at greening city and district territories, as well as at improving settlements, demonstrating a growing awareness of the importance of their environmental responsibility.

For example, as part of the Tugan Qala project, ERG implemented 97 social projects, including children's and sports grounds, monuments, murals, boat stations and climbing walls with a total investment of over 690 million tenge. Also last year, about 2 million green plants were planted.

Solidcore Resources launched a pilot forest planting project of 500 hectares in the Kostanay region with the prospect of increasing it to 1,500 hectares. It is expected that the project will lead to the creation of a new forest area. Similar projects are planned in Pavlodar and Abai regions. At the first stage, total investments will amount to $5.3 million.

Last year, as part of the Taza Kazakstan campaign. Qarmet planted more than 10 thousand saplings. In general, since 2022, the company has initiated the planting of more than 1 million trees. Another of the company's significant contributions to improving the environment was the revival of tram service in Temirtau.

Karcement also attended the greening of the village of Aktau (Karaganda region), planting 150 seedlings.

As part of the social project, Kazzinc plans to implement activities worth 1.5 billion tenge aimed at landscaping, equipping schools, hospitals, construction of children's and sports grounds.

The Ministry will continue to work within the supervised areas to implement the policy of reducing the impact of industrial enterprises on the environment by searching for and implementing the best technologies," Kanat Sharlapayev concluded.

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21.01.2025, 15:21 68281

Taza Kazakstan: record results of environmental action in 2024

The Government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov considered the implementation of the republican environmental action Taza Kazakstan, which was initiated by the Head of State. The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev reported on the measures taken, primeminister.kz reports.

According to him, in 2024 the number of annual mass ecological actions on cleaning of territories has increased from 62 to 183 events. In this case, if earlier from 2019 to 2023, the total number of participants in the actions was 2.4 million people, collected 900 thousand tonnes of rubbish, planted about 2.5 million green plants, then at the end of 2024, mass environmental actions covered 6.2 million people who collected 1.1 million tonnes of waste, planted about 1.6 million trees.

These results, according to the information of the Minister, show that the efforts put into the actions Taza Kazakstan are maintained at a high level, become larger and more effective. In the regions held such events as:

Taza Olke - cleaning of territories and yards, organised by residents, public, organisations and enterprises;
Kieli Meken - improvement of the territory of historical and cultural monuments;
Zhasyl Aimak - planting of tree seedlings and whitewashing of plantations;
Onegeli Kurpak - cleaning and improvement of veterans' yards and territories of old people's homes;
Moldir bulak - cleaning of rubbish from the neighbourhoods of water bodies.

In order to involve citizens in solving the problems of settlements and ecology in June 2024, the service of submitting applications via telegram chat-bot @TazaQazBot was launched.

According to the Minister, the chat-bot is popular among the residents of the country. Currently, about 10.7 thousand applications have been received, more than 9.7 thousand applications have been fulfilled.

The Minister noted that in terms of regions, the largest number of requests is received in the cities of Almaty and Astana, as well as in the Turkestan region

Another effective tool in preserving the ecosystem is space monitoring. Satellite images help to detect and eliminate illegal accumulations of rubbish. Based on the data of ‘Kazakstan Ғarysh Sapary’ territorial departments of ecology make a visit and record each case, after which akimats are issued an order for liquidation.

By the way, in recent years, the number of identified landfills has significantly decreased, and the percentage of elimination has increased. Thus, if in 2018, 8.7 thousand illegal accumulations of rubbish were identified and 57% were eliminated, in 2024, about 4.8 thousand sites with waste were identified, of which 91% were eliminated.

In this regard, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources proposed at the Government session to strengthen the work in terms of expanding the coverage area of settlements and the frequency of space images.

An important element in the formation of a waste management culture among the population is the provision of appropriate infrastructure. As part of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has formed a preliminary pool of 94 projects worth 232 billion tenge to be financed by the recycling levy on the basis of proposals from akimats. At present, 45 business entities have refused to participate in the programme out of the 94 projects. According to the minister, this could have been avoided if akimats worked out the projects in detail at the stage of pool formation. For example, the largest number of refusals is observed in Turkestan region and in Zhetysu.

At the same time, in order to achieve the indicators on increasing the capacity for sorting and processing of solid domestic waste, the Ministry together with akimats throughout the period worked on the formation of an additional pool of projects.

As a result, today the Ministry has considered 65 projects submitted by akimats for a total amount of 307 billion tenge, including 41 projects on waste processing.

To date, for 5 projects of JSC ‘Zhasyl Damu’ directed funds to the Industrial Development Fund in the amount of 3.5 billion tenge, and the total cost of projects including private investment is 5 billion tenge. Another 11 projects for the amount of 60.9 billion tenge are at the II stage of consideration in the IDF. 49 projects worth 241.1 billion tenge are being worked out by investors based on the comments of the DIF.

In general, the total capacity of these projects is:

2.2 million tonnes per year for sorting;
1.1 million tonnes per year for processing.

Implementation of these projects will create more than 4,500 jobs and attract 54.6 billion tenge of private investment.

Another key area in the work of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is the creation and maintenance of green spaces. Within the framework of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction to plant 15 million trees on the territory of settlements, about 3 million trees are planted annually. In total, more than 12 million trees have been planted between 2021 and 2024.

In implementation of the Head of State's instruction on creation of saxaul plantations on the dried Aral Sea bed on the area of 1.1 million hectares in 2021-2024, reclamation works on the area of 475 thousand hectares were carried out, including 127 thousand hectares in 2024.

The plan for 2025 is 428 thousand hectares, of which 100 thousand hectares will be carried out by local executive bodies and 328 thousand hectares by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

As of today, the Ministry has already attracted funds from KATCO for the amount of 2.2 billion tenge to carry out works on the area of 148 thousand hectares.

As part of the Head of State's instruction to plant 2 billion trees by 2027, 1.1 million seedlings were planted in 2021-2024 on an area of 736.8 thousand hectares, of which 306 million seedlings were planted in 2024 on an area of 205.2 thousand hectares.

The plan of the current year is 336.5 million seedlings on the area of 494 thousand hectares.

In general, for 2025 forestry works are provided with the necessary planting material. This year, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, it is planned to start scaling up the cultivation of planting material with closed root system within the framework of leasing financing. In total, it is planned to build 6 forest nurseries, each with a capacity of 6 million seedlings per year.

At the same time, in order to promptly solve the deficit of planting material, akimats have been instructed to consider the possibility of its purchase in private forest nurseries.

According to the Minister, to attract the younger generation to careful attitude to nature and increase their environmental awareness, sowing and cultivation of planting material in containers by schoolchildren in 236 schools adjacent to the territory of 30 specially protected natural areas has been initiated. It is planned to grow 36.2 thousand pieces of planting material. It is planned to give 20.6 thousand seedlings to schools for planting this spring.

But creation of green plantings in settlements is carried out by local executive bodies on the basis of recommendations of scientific organisations, in connection with which regional akimats are instructed to:

to provide scientific support for planting and maintenance of green spaces;
to comply with the use of quality zoned planting material;
to organise accounting and monitoring of the state of green plantings in settlements.

An important issue is also the preservation of unique natural objects concentrated in specially protected natural areas. With the annual growth of visitors to national parks, the anthropogenic load on natural complexes is increasing. In this regard, the Forestry Committee together with JSC Zhasyl Damu in the national parks Kolsai kolderi and Charyn in 2024 implemented a programme Clean Tourism, which installed 3 fandomat, 26 containers and 6 urns for separate collection of waste.

This year it is planned to scale this experience in 7 most visited national parks.

In addition, the Minister said that in order to form a proper level of environmental culture of the population at the end of October 2024 approved the Concept of development of environmental culture Taza Kazakstan for 2024-2029 and the Plan for its implementation. At present, regional maslikhats are approving regional plans for the implementation of the Concept, which include measures on gardening, eco-volunteering, environmental contests, as well as improving environmental education and culture of the population.

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21.01.2025, 14:30 68486

Prime Minister instructs to support domestic developers and strengthen work to attract major players to Kazakhstan

Images | primeminister.kz

At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov the issues of development of export of IT-services and products were considered. Zhaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, made a report. The floor was also given to representatives of IT-companies: Technical Director of Netcracker Technology Pavel Gorodov, General Director of Higgsfield AI Erzat Dulat, General Director of Grand Mobile Roman Lineitsev, primeminister.kz reports.

As reported by the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Zhaslan Madiyev, for the first half of 2024, the growth of exports of IT services amounted to 24%, or $306 million. Today the number of participants of Astana Hub exceeds 1.5 thousand companies, 400 of which are foreign participants.

Prime Minister emphasised that a number of Kazakhstani projects, such as Alaqan, Codiplay, CITIX, CEREBRA, OGames, Parqour, ApartX, have established themselves in foreign markets, including the USA, Arab Emirates, Netherlands, UK, Germany and other countries. The key areas of work for further growth of IT services exports were highlighted.

The Head of State has set a task to bring the level of IT exports to $1 billion by 2026. To realise this task, work is underway to create the appropriate infrastructure and provide support to businesses in this area. This has allowed for the last 5 years to increase the volume of export of Kazakhstani IT-services more than 20 times. Further work on the growth of export of IT-services and products should focus on the development of acceleration programmes in the regions and expansion of the circle of partners-investors. Regional IT-hubs and venture funds should become locomotives," Olzhas Bektenov noted.

Head of the Government cited the example of Astana Hub, which has become an innovation cluster and a key partner for many start-ups. It was noted that the participants of the technopark are provided with tax and visa preferences, information and educational support and business development programmes. The Ministry of Digital Development together with akimats was tasked to develop a roadmap to support regional IT-hubs, following the example of Astana Hub and Karaganda Terracona Valley. Akimats have been instructed to promptly resolve the issues of financing and support of regional hubs.

The Ministry of Digital Development has been instructed to complete the work on the creation and licensing of the management company Qazaqstan Venture Group by the end of March. Olzhas Bektenov stressed that in order to provide financial support to domestic startups it is necessary to accelerate the procedures for the creation of the Venture Fund with bringing its volume to $1 billion by the end of 2025.

In addition, a task has been set to digitise all procedures for scientific and research work. Prime Minister drew attention to the fact that the relevant platform is already functioning. It is necessary to involve state bodies, quasi-state sector and subsoil users, which will increase the demand for domestic innovative developments and facilitate their entry into international markets.

At the same time, it is important to intensify the popularisation of technological entrepreneurship in the regions of Kazakhstan and the creation of conditions for improving the competencies of Kazakhstani specialists on the basis of regional IT hubs. The Ministry of Digital Development together with the interested state bodies has been instructed to update the measures of state support for IT-companies whose activities are aimed at exporting services and products.

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21.01.2025, 13:26 83716

Implementation of Taza Kazakhstan environmental action considered by Government

At the Government session under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov the issue of the implementation of Taza Kazakhstan ecological action was considered. The reports were made by the heads of relevant ministries, primeminister.kz reports.

On the elimination of dumps and fulfilment of the plan to increase green spaces reported the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev, on the participation of domestic industrial enterprises in the action - Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapayev, on the ongoing work on the formation of environmental culture - Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva. Akims of a number of regions were heard.

Within the framework of Taza Kazakstan campaign for 2024 the total number of participants was 6.2 million people, 1.1 million tonnes of waste were collected, about 1.6 million trees were planted. Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev reported that, according to the Head of State's instruction to plant 2 billion green spaces by 2027, the plan for 2025 - 336.5 million seedlings on an area of 494 thousand hectares. At the same time, over 1.1 billion trees have already been planted in the period of 2021-2024.

Special attention was paid to the issue of participation of industrial enterprises in the implementation of environmental protection plans. The President's address emphasised the importance of a high degree of business responsibility in protecting nature. According to the Ministry of Industry and Construction, ERG Group plans to plant about 1.8 million green spaces in 2025. Solidcore Resources in 2024 initiated a pilot project to plant forests on an area of 500 hectares in Kostanay region with the prospect of increasing the area to 1.5 thousand hectares. Qarmet JSC has planted more than 1 million seedlings since 2022.

Prime Minister stressed the importance of Taza Kazakstan in the issue of formation of the culture of citizens' behaviour, support of universal values and establishment of a new ideology of nature conservation. It was noted that the action has acquired the status of a long-term Concept until 2029, which provides a set of measures to improve the environmental situation.

All the initiatives of the President, including those to improve ecology and environment, to observe law and order, are aimed at forming a healthy culture of behaviour of our citizens, supporting universal values. They are not limited only to holding actions or observing laws, but should contribute to the establishment of a new ideology of nature conservation, respectful attitude to people, history and traditions. Ecological culture should become an integral part of our lives. All state bodies, business and the public should be actively involved in this work. The implementation of the Taza Kazakstan initiative should cover all spheres of our activities," Olzhas Bektenov noted.

Taking into account the obligations under the Paris Agreement on achieving carbon neutrality, the need to take effective measures to reduce emissions into the atmosphere was noted. In this regard, the Ministry of Ecology together with akimats have been instructed to promptly complete the introduction of automated systems for monitoring emissions into the environment.

Head of the Government emphasised the importance of forming a living ecosystem by creating carbon polygons, aimed at absorbing carbon and reducing the impact on nature. The Ministry of Ecology has been instructed to develop legislative amendments for the implementation of such projects.

Akimats are tasked with opening new plants to process household waste, as well as intensifying work to eliminate unauthorised dumps and prevent their occurrence. At the same time, local executive bodies have been instructed to ensure the creation of nurseries of planting material in the regions and maximum survival rate of planted trees and shrubs.

The Ministries of Ecology and Digital Development have been instructed to increase the coverage and frequency of space monitoring of territories in order to detect illegal dumps.

The Ministries of Culture, Education, Science and Higher Education were instructed to strengthen educational and awareness-raising work in the area of environmental conservation and raising the environmental culture of the population.

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