“About 56,000 entrepreneurs are registered in Astana,” Director of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Astana Meirbek Mazhitov told a July 3 Central Communications Service (CCS) media briefing. “Presently, more than 56,000 business entities are registered in Astana, which is 17 percent higher than in 2013. The activity of small and medium business entities makes more than 60 percent of the GDP, and 67 percent of all tax revenue accounts for entrepreneurs. The volume of products manufactured by them in 2013 reached 1,200 million tenge [US$6.5 million],” he said. Mazhitov emphasised that this indicator shows that the capital city has great potential for the development of small and medium business. The chamber is constantly working on improving infrastructure for small and medium business, he said. During the briefing, Mazhitov also reported that the Public Service Centre had been established this year for rendering assistance to emerging entrepreneurs. “It renders all kinds of services to businesspeople and works as a one-stop shop,” he added. About 1,100 entrepreneurs applied there for help in the first six months of this year.
One of Kazakhstan’s major industrial projects in 2014 is a chemical plant producing reagents for gold producing enterprises in the Zhambyl region. The plant, which was demonstrated on July 2 before a governmental report to the President of Kazakhstan, has cost about 13 billion tenge (US$70.8 million) and will create almost 500 jobs. A total of 41 projects costing 597 billion tenge (US$3.25 billion) and providing for the creation of 8,000 jobs have been implemented within the Industrialisation Map in the Zhambyl region since the launch of the programme. Seven innovative, high-level processing, high labour-productivity projects amounting to 25.4 billion tenge (US$138.4 million) are currently being implemented. They will help create 1,200 jobs. Special attention is paid to supporting Kazakh manufacturers. Twenty-two projects of the Industrialisation Map have received state support through the Business Road Map 2020 Programme. Along with such popular spheres as construction and agriculture, projects are also being implemented in the mining and metallurgical spheres, chemical and light industry, energy, pharmaceuticals and other sectors.
The companies of the East Kazakhstan region produce one quarter of all innovative products in the country. Sixty-one projects in the region with a total investment of 685.2 billion tenge (US$3.73 billion) are part of the Industrialisation Map. The implementation of these projects is creating 25,300 jobs. The region produces significant energy, but has an electricity deficit of about 2 billion kilowatt hours. To make up that deficit, 13 small wind and hydropower generating stations are expected to be implemented soon. The total cost of these projects is about $200 million. Kazatomprom is implementing a project to build the country’s first solar battery production complex, with a capacity of 70 megawatts per year. The total cost of the project is $160 million. RaimbekVostokAgro, which employs 250 people, successfully implemented a project worth 365 million tenge (US$1.99 million) to produce packaging materials for dairy products. The region continues to implement such state programmes as the Business Road Map 2020 Programm, the Productivity, the Employment Road Map and the Exporter. Fourteen projects totalling 3.1 billion tenge (US$16.89 million) have been implemented to develop infrastructure the region lacked. In 2014, five applications for 442.5 million tenge (US$2.4 million) have already been approved and 19 financial grants amounting to 55 million tenge (US$299,679) have already been extended to emerging entrepreneurs.
