Kazakhstan’s government is planning launch of massive upgrade of utility infrastructure

The authorities are going to borrow necessary funds from the EBRD and ADB / Photo: Shutterstock

Kazakhstan is going to invest about $1.8 billion in 68 different projects related to the upgrading of sewage treatment facilities throughout the country, according to Ilyas Ospanov, deputy minister of industry and infrastructural development.

Plans to upgrade the existing sewage treatment facilities and build new ones were first revealed by Kairbek Uskenbaev, former minister of industry in December 2022. The Ministry of Industry reported that the work was already launched in the towns of Saryagash, Atyrau and Fort-Shenchenko. At the time, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov highlighted that these facilities were 90% worn out.

According to Ospanov, $323 million will be allocated for 14 projects over the period from 2023 to 2025; $1.3 billion will be allocated for 40 projects in 2024-2026, and $85.5 million will be spent over the period from 2025 to 2027.

As the official noted, the government is going to implement 35 projects with its own funds ($710 million). The same amount of money will be attracted as a bond-secured loan from the national holding of Baiterek to implement 24 additional projects.

The remaining nine projects worth $368 million will be implemented with the help of loans with 15 years of maturity from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and public-private partnerships (six years of maturity loans).

Ospanov also said that the government has allocated $629 million for the implementation of 402 projects this year, including 135 projects in urban areas ($357 million) and 267 projects in rural areas ($251 million).

«We are focused on three directions: water supply, water disposal and heat supply. We have 128,000 kilometers of this infrastructure, which is 50% worn out. I mean, we have to upgrade almost 65,000 kilometers of pipes,» the deputy minister said.

Once the massive overhaul is over, 98.8% of people in cities and 96% of people in settlements will have access to clean water.

In February 2023, the government said that it upgraded about 3,000 kilometers of networks with the help of different sources of funds. As a result, the rate of utility network deterioration dropped from 53% to 51%. This year, authorities want this figure to decrease to 50% and to 40% by 2029. In 2022, the government reported that the rate of water access was 98.4% in cities and 94.5% in rural areas.