Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Roman Sklyar, Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov, akims of the Almaty region Amandyk Batalov, Kyzylorda — Krymbek Kusherbayev, Zhambyl — Ablay Myrzakhmetov, Karaganda — Yerlan Koshanov reported on providing the population with high-quality drinking water.

During the discussion, representatives of organizations actively involved in the water supply and wastewater sector also spoke.

Chairman of supervisory board of a private water utility in Shymkent, Water Resources Marketing LLP, Anarbek Orman, said that the investments made by international financial organizations helped improve the quality of services provided to citizens. Since 2010, solar and hydropower stations of 2 MW each have been built and commissioned, 947 km of water supply networks and 67 km of sewer networks have been reconstructed. With the use of digital technologies, the methods of producing and transporting drinking water have been modernized. To date, sewage treatment plants are controlled automatically.

“The investment made it possible to ensure uninterrupted supply of water to consumers, as well as completely purify wastewater in accordance with environmental and sanitary requirements. Regulatory and technical costs have been reduced by 2.4 times. Electricity costs for the production of 1 m² of water are reduced by 12 times,” said Orman.

In turn, Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Agris Preimanis said that the housing and utilities sector is one of the priorities of the EBRD’s work in Kazakhstan. More than 30 billion tenge was invested in the water supply and wastewater systems, these are 12 projects implemented in the regions of the country. As a result of joint work, the quality of drinking water has improved, the water supply has increased, losses have decreased, the percentage of water metering has increased, etc. According to Preimanis, similar work may be carried out in other companies providing services in the field of water supply, drainage, sewerage services treatment facilities.

Summing up, Mamin emphasized the importance of providing the settlements with high-quality drinking water, which directly affects the improvement of the quality of life.

“The measures taken will allow in 2023 to resolve the issue of providing 100% of the population with drinking water,” said Mamin.

A high percentage of villages with potable water supply was identified in Almaty and Kyzylorda regions. In turn, akimats of Zhambyl, Kostanay, and Pavlodar regions were instructed to step up work in this direction and strengthen measures for the stable provision of villages with water.

“It is necessary to define a new indicator of the performance of akimats — ensuring access of the population to clean drinking water,” said Mamin, instructing to improve the service of rural, group water lines to work out the transfer of these functions to the Ministry of Agriculture.

In order to achieve the goal of providing 100% water supply to cities and villages in 2023, the prime minister commissioned to adjust regional plans and take measures to launch all water supply facilities.

Special attention is paid to accelerating the construction and modernization of sewage treatment plants in cities. In this direction, the work on increasing the investment attractiveness of sewage projects is underway. Many international financial institutions are interested in financing such projects. Mamin commissioned to work out financing mechanisms in the framework of public-private partnership, taking into account international experience.

“It is necessary to solve the task set by Elbasy at a meeting of the Security Council to improve the quality of life of citizens, its comfort, to provide the population with quality drinking water and water supply, regardless of whether it is a city or a village,” said Askar Mamin. “We have to fulfill the instructions of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on water supply to cities and villages, which were given during his working trips to the regions.” As a result, the provision of water from the water supply source to the final consumer will exclude intermediaries who, by buying water from group water pipelines at a subsidized rate, sell to the population with value added.