President Tokayev wants the cabinet to repair all TPPs in the country
According to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the government has to repair all thermal power stations (TPP) that belong to the state. On the other hand, private TPPs must be repaired at the expense of their owners.
«Private facilities must be updated at the expense of their owners under the tariff in exchange for an investment program. This is an urgent task for the cabinet because both TPPs and heating networks are in a bad shape,» the president said.
He also revealed that 1,500 kilometers of the heating network across the country have been worn out by 75% and need urgent replacement. In Arkalyk, Ridder and Shemonaikha these networks are worn out completely.
«The cabinet must tackle this issue within three years. A state commission that looked into the matter says we need $1.1 billion to solve the problem. The cabinet should allocate this money with the help of budget crediting and tariff policy,» Tokayev stated.
The president also noted that power and heat aren’t the only problems the country is facing. For instance, specialists have been warning about the problem with sewage treatment facilities for more than five years. This infrastructure is worn out as well and must be updated or built as soon as possible. The government has been aware of the problem for years and even planned to repair the system through public-private partnerships.
«The cabinet renounced this idea long ago. Now we are talking about providing funds from the state budget and from loans. None of those announced plans have been done,» Tokayev added.
In fact, the cabinet has made things even worse by cutting the number of facilities that must be modernized by 2025. As of today, there are only seven facilities on this list. At the same time, there are 68 sewage treatment facilities in Kazakhstan that need repair.
Recently, Kazakhstan’s officials reported several failures at private TPPs. For years, owners of these facilities tried to maximize their revenues with little or no investments in their technical modernization and maintenance.
