Business news in brief

First waterproofing factory Penetron in Kazakhstan and the second in Eurasiawas opened in Astana on May 30. The factory’s capacity is about 10,000 tonnes of finished products per year, which will fully satisfy the demand for penetrating waterproofing in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Until now, the whole Eurasian continent had only one world famous waterproofing factory entering the Penetron-Russia group based in Yekaterinburg. The new plant has already issued its first products. The grand opening of the factory was attended by representatives of the authorities of Kazakhstan and businessmen of the two countries. “Penetron is a revolutionary material that allows protection of any object from water,” said Igor Chernogolov, the head of Penetron-Russia holding. According to Chernogolov products from the factory will be shipped to all Central Asian countries. Decision on the establishment of the factory was taken in November 2013 at a meeting in Yekaterinburg between Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

“As part of the investment projects of Samruk Kazyna National Welfare Fund in the current year it is planned to put into operation a 45 MW Yereimentau wind power plant, which will supply energy to the international specialised exhibition EXPO 2017,” Samruk Kazyna Executive Director for Business Development Berik Beissengaliyev said at a June 5 Central Communications Service (CCS) briefing.The fund is building agreen neighbourhood with a total area of 135,000 square metres, which will include residential apartments and a commercial area. “The innovation and individuality of these facilities is that they are built with the use of real innovative materials. Theywill have climate control that automatically maintains the indoor humidity, air purity and self-regulating heating. There will be a green area, including on roofs, geothermal heat pumps, heating with solar energy and a lot of innovative features,” he stressed. “In addition, in the course of implementation of investment projects in the field of chemistry and petrochemistry, Taraz and Atyrau free economic zones (FEZ) have been created. The first SEZ will include 14 large projects, including a plant for the production of sodium cyanide. Projects on production of polyethylene and polypropylene are underway in Atyrau. Markets for these products could be found in Kazakhstan, Russia, China and the [Commonwealth of Independent States] CIS countries,” Beissengaliyev said.

“The World Bank will provide financial support for the implementation of energy efficiency projects in Kazakhstan,” First Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies Albert Rausaid at a June 4 conference, Mechanisms for financing and implementing energy efficiency in Kazakhstan.“The programme of energy saving is very crucial for us. A grant agreement under which Kazakhstan will receive funding is currently under preparation. We could carry out pilot projects in each area in a certain number of schools and hospitals so that people clearly see what effect can be achieved from not very large in amount but very effective energy saving measures,” Rau said. According to him, the GDP energy intensity in Kazakhstan decreased by 13.5 percent. “In the first five years of industrialisation, President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed to reduce the energy intensity of the GDP by 10 percent. In fact, it decreased by 13.5 percent. The law on energy saving and energy efficiency was adopted,” he stressed. In addition, he noted the state register of major energy consumers, who spend more than 1,500 tonnes of fuel equivalent per year, was launched in Kazakhstan in 2014.

“Samruk Kazyna National Welfare Fund is developing a programme on transformation of the fund, under which it is planned to reallocate funds for financial support in favour of projects in the field of petrochemicals, mining sector, engineering and many other fields,” Chairman of the Fund Umirzak Shukeyev saidat a June 5 meeting on the implementation of investment projects. “The fund is taking steps to reallocate funds from traditional sectors such as oil and gas, transport and communications, infrastructure and energy, nuclear industry to developing industries, such as chemical and petrochemical industry, construction, mining sector and engineering,” Shukeyev said. The main purpose of the document on the transformation of the fund is to come to a higher level of performance in doing business and managingstate assets.


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