A2
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017
NATION
NATIONAL
NEWS IN BRIEF
Yelzhan Birtanov
Highways Committee Chair Mereke Pshembayev (C).
Kazakhstan reconstructs
1,300 kilometres of highways
in two years
By Assel Satubaldina
ASTANA – Kazakhstan saw
1,300 kilometres of highways re-
constructed in 2015-2016 within
the nation’s large-scale Nurly Zhol
programme. Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev announced
the programme in his annual state-
of-the-nation address in 2014.
“Movement on Western Europe-
Western China transit corridor,
Astana-Temirtau, Almaty-Kapsha-
gai, Kapshagai-Balpyk Bi, Beineu-
Shetpe and Kokshetau-Petropav-
lovsk highways was fully opened.
The construction of the Central
Asia’s longest 12-kilometre bridge
crossing in Pavlodar spanning the
Irtysh River was finished as well,”
said Highways Committee Chair
Mereke Pshembayev during the
Dec. 25 press briefing.
Pshembayev noted 1,300 kilo-
metre of national highways were
renovated as part of the Nurly
Zhol programme, a large-scale
economic and development pro-
ject that seeks turning Kazakh-
stan into a transport and logistics
hub of Eurasia through moderni-
sation of transport infrastructure,
among other objectives.
Construction works continue
on Temirtau-Karaganda, Asta-
na-Pavlodar-Semei-Kalbatau,
Beineu-Aktau, Aktobe-Atyrau,
Kapshagai-Taldykorgan, Astana-
Petropavlovsk and the Uralsk-
Kamenka highways, he said.
The committee chair noted
Kazakhstan plans to implement
12 more projects involving high-
ways with a total length of more
than 3,000 kilometres with lead-
ing foreign financial institutes
to further boost the nation’s
transport potential and economic
growth of its regions.
Other plans envisioned by the
programme also include the in-
troduction of toll charges along
6,500 kilometres of the reno-
vated highways by 2020, said
Pshembayev, with the expected
capacity to generate nearly 30
billion tenge (US$90.3 million)
annually by 2020.
“In general, based on the re-
sults of the work that we have
done so far, we plan to improve
90 percent of the national high-
ways and increase the share of
roads rated as first and second
technical category to 50 per-
cent. It will allow for a two-fold
increase in the capacity of high
traffic roads and freight traf-
fic and 1.5-fold reduction in
the time spent on the road,” he
added.
26 years of independence:
changing trends in Kazakhstan
By Dana Omirgazy
ASTANA – Kazakhstan cele-
brated its 26th anniversary of in-
dependence Dec. 16 2017. Dur-
ing the period, the country made
the leap from the economic and
political disruption of the early
1990s to a modern social state
with a dynamically developing
market economy, democratic
system, political stability and
ethno-confessional peace and ac-
cord. The prime minister’s press
service released a report Dec. 17
reviewing the work which has
been undertaken.
“Today, Kazakhstan is deeply
integrated into the international
processes, has joined the main
financial and economic institu-
tions and attracted multibillion-
dollar flows of foreign direct in-
vestment. EXPO 2017, the first
OIC (Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation) Summit on Sci-
ence and Technology and other
major forums were held in the
country [during 2017],” it not-
ed.
Kazakhstan has established
diplomatic relations with 180
countries, presided at such au-
thoritative international organisa-
tions as the Conference on Inter-
action and Confidence-Building
Measures in Asia (CICA), Com-
monwealth of Independent States
(CIS), Collective Security Treaty
Organisation (CSTO), OIC, Or-
ganisation for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE),
Shanghai Cooperation Organisa-
tion (SCO) and the Turkic Coun-
cil. The nation also hosts a regu-
lar congress of leaders of world
and traditional religions, joined
the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), effectively mediated
in resolving conflict situations,
initiated the adoption of the UN
General Assembly’s Universal
Declaration for the Achieve-
ment of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free
World and gained non-permanent
membership on the UN Security
Council for 2017-2018.
“Kazakhstan is becoming more
attractive to foreign business.
Approximately $300 billion in
direct investment was attracted
to the country over the past 26
years. This is more than 70 per-
cent of the total inflow to the
countries of Central Asia. The
largest investors are the Neth-
erlands, the USA, Switzerland,
France, Great Britain, Russia,
Italy, Japan, Belgium and Cana-
da,” said the report.
Back in the early 1990s, the
country’s oil and gas industry
started with 25 million tonnes
of oil production, the Atyrau-Sa-
mara oil pipeline and a three-mil-
lion tonne per year export quota
to foreign countries. The lack of
investments threatened a severe
crisis and production volume fell
annually.
“A serious jump in oil reserves
was made from 5.3 billion barrels
in the 1990s to 30 billion barrels
today. In 1991, oil exports were
approximately 12 million tonnes
to limited locations; today, ex-
ports have been increased by
more than five times – over 66
million tonnes to 36 countries. In
2016, Kazakhstan launched the
long-awaited Kashagan project,
which is supposed to bring sub-
stantial revenues to the country,”
according to the report.
The contribution of the oil
and gas sector to the economy
and social development of the
regions is unique. Investments
in Karachaganak, Kashagan and
Tengiz fields exceeded $121 bil-
lion, as their contribution to the
economy reached $155 billion.
Kazakhstan currently follows
a course towards new industri-
alisation and production devel-
opment, reducing the country’s
dependence on raw materials.
The manufacturing sector is be-
coming the main driver of indus-
trial growth, facilitated by im-
plementing the second five-year
State Programme of Accelerated
Industrial and Innovative Devel-
opment.
In addition to the traditional
metallurgy and food industries,
the nation has 26 new manu-
facturing areas, including the
automotive industry, railway
engineering, titanium industry,
medical equipment production
and solar and wind power.
“The development of the coun-
try’s transport and logistics sys-
tem is one of the most important
priorities. Today, Kazakhstan
has become a key element of
the Euro-Asian transit system.
In 2016, the President instructed
developing the Nurly Zher pro-
gramme of housing construction.
The programme is set to provide
even more Kazakh families with
affordable housing,” noted the
review.
The nation also pays special
attention to the social and labour
spheres, promoting employment
and developing health, educa-
tion, culture and sports.
“The country is looking for-
ward to large-scale modernisa-
tion of various spheres of Kazakh
society. This work will be done
under the national strategies
and programmes of Kazakhstan
2050, the 100 Concrete Steps
Plan of the Nation on the imple-
mentation of the five institutional
reforms, Nurly Zhol, third stage
of Kazakhstan’s modernisation,
Rukhani Janghyru (Modernisa-
tion of Kazakhstan’s Identity)
and 2025 Strategic Development
Plan of Kazakhstan,” according
to the report.
Healthcare minister
reports on new
infrastructure
development plan
By Meruyert Abugaliyeva
ASTANA – Minister of Health-
care Yelzhan Birtanov recently
briefed the government on the
Unified Healthcare Infrastructure
Development Plan developed by
the ministry and local executive
authorities seeking to make the
national healthcare system more
compact and efficient.
“As a result of the OECD (Or-
ganisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development)
Health Care Review, experts
approved the methods designed
to develop the infrastructure and
gave particular recommenda-
tions, such as accelerating the
consolidation of the healthcare
sector and implementing a sys-
tematic approach to streamline
new investments. Currently, we
are working on altering the con-
figuration of healthcare organi-
sations,” he said.
In rural areas, where availabil-
ity of medical services is a prior-
ity, the existing facilities will be
modernised and medical care is to
be provided on district and inter-
district levels. Specialised medical
help will be available at the district
level depending on the demand in
corresponding areas.
In the urban environment, medi-
cal care will be provided in outpa-
tient clinics. Specialised clinics,
such as cardiology, oncology and
birth centres, are to be integrated
into general hospitals and the lo-
cations will be used to provide
nursing care, he added. Children’s
hospitals will continue to operate
separately.
On the national level, the ex-
isting research institutes will be
merged into university medical
centres.
“The unified plan includes the
national plan and 16 regional
plans designed by local execu-
tive authorities for 2018-2025.
Each of them takes into account
corresponding demographic and
epidemiological situations and the
existing infrastructure. The plan is
an effective management tool that
addresses the issues of optimisa-
tion, privatisation, construction of
new facilities and modernisation
of existing ones,” added Birtanov.
According to the regional plans,
outpatient clinic capacity is ex-
pected to increase by 12.5 percent
by 2025. Urban hospital capac-
ity will reach 424 beds, which is
close to best international practice,
whereas in rural areas this indica-
tor will remain at 91 beds.
In previous years, significant
investments in healthcare were
part of the 100 Schools, 100 Hos-
pitals and 350 family clinics pro-
grammes. Those investments have
significantly decreased and the
current aggregate investment de-
mand is one billion tenge (US$3
million) until 2025.
“Implementation of investment
projects is to be executed through
public-private partnership (PPP)
using a standard financial model
and affordable lending. Large
PPP projects in 2018 should be fi-
nanced by Asian and European de-
velopment banks,” said Birtanov.
This year, the Civil Service Af-
fairs and Anti-Corruption Agency
will introduce fundamentally new
types of mechanisms and new
forms of work, head of the agency
Alik Shpekbayev wrote on Face-
book Jan. 10. The state body in-
tends to organise a meeting of the
board dedicated to the results of
the year’s work and new priorities.
“Effective state administration, the
preventive fight against corruption
and the rule of law are among the
main tasks. There is a clear vision
of what the path to these goals
should be. 2018 will be decisive
for us. [Kazakh President Nursul-
tan Nazarbayev’s] Address to the
Nation covered such issues as the
factor evaluation system, the digi-
tal transformation in state bodies,
the consolidation of administrative
resources and the population’s in-
volvement in solving the problems
facing society. It is necessary to
implement these tasks,” he said.
The meeting will be broadcast live
for the first time.
The Astana city administration
will monitor hashtags on Facebook
to handle complaints properly, ac-
cording to the administration’s
press service. “We ask residents
to tag City Monitoring and Op-
erational Response Centre in your
posts using #astana109 hashtag
to promptly respond to messages
and addresses of residents,” an
akimat press release explained.
The centre accepts appeals, coor-
dinates the activities of municipal
and operational services in solving
accidents, creates policies of pre-
ventive measures and monitors the
city’s video surveillance system. It
works around the clock. The con-
tact number is 109 and residents
can also make contact via the
Smart Astana mobile app.
Khabar reports that 150 units
of medical equipment worth 1.7
billion tenge (US$5.1 million)
were provided for hospitals in the
Kyzylorda region last year. A tele-
communication operating system
was installed at the regional peri-
natal centre. “A total of 80 mil-
lion tenge was allocated for the
full equipment of the hospital last
year. An artificial lung ventilation
device and an anaesthetic respira-
tory apparatus were purchased for
the neonatal surgery department.
We performed 1,980 operations,
six of which were neurosurgery
on newborns. Previously, we sent
patients to the capital; now we
can conduct operations here,”
said deputy chief of the regional
children’s hospital Kanat Medet-
bayev.
The Kazakh population’s level
of satisfaction with quality of
healthcare reached 54.4 percent
according to the last year’s social
survey, the Healthcare Minis-
try’s press service reported. “The
greatest overall satisfaction with
quality of healthcare is observed
in Astana and the Karaganda
and Kostanai regions. The west
Kazakhstan region and Almaty
showed the lowest level of satis-
faction,” the ministry’s statement
explained. The survey was con-
ducted on a voluntary and anony-
mous basis. In total, 211,526 peo-
ple were interviewed including
32,882 respondents in hospitals,
research institutes and national
centres and 178,644 people in
outpatient health clinics. The sur-
vey provides an opportunity to
identify the population’s level of
satisfaction to guide operational
and management decisions and,
ultimately, to increase the avail-
ability and quality of medical ser-
vices in medical organisations.
The Atyrau oil refinery has
been fined about 22 million tenge
(US$67,320) for violating emis-
sions regulations, reported 24.kz.
The excess pollution occurred
Dec. 11, 2017, when a fire broke
out on a pipeline at the plant. High
levels of carbonaceous soot, nitro-
gen dioxide and sulphur dioxide
were observed. “The ecological
damage caused during the fire is
currently being calculated. The
enterprise is to pay an administra-
tive fine for damages,” said Ecol-
ogy Department head Zholdaskali
Telagysov. The incident will not
affect the course of the plant’s
modernisation.