NUR-SULTAN – The capital’s akimat (administration) will incorporate President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s call for government to improve living standards in the city’s social and economic development, said Nur-Sultan Akim (Mayor) Altay Kulginov at a July 17 meeting on the results of the July 15 expanded government meeting chaired by Tokayev.
Altay Kulginov. Photo credit: Nur-Sultan Akimat.
The First President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, tasked the new government, appointed Feb. 25, to “take effective steps in improving living standards, stimulating the economy and implementing strategic objectives.” Tokayev further directed government agencies to increase incomes, create jobs, improve land use and develop a better investment climate at the expanded government meeting.
“Increasing the income of the population is our main job. (There is a) growth of 6 percent, but we cannot stop there. Sanctions and protectionism also influence the development of our country. International experts talk about the unstable situation in the world. Therefore, we should also consider the creation of new jobs as a priority,” said Tokayev.
The government will allocate two trillion tenge (US$5.3 billion) from the state budget to social support over the next three years, and Kulginov sees a role for the city akimat in advancing these socially-oriented measures.
“This year, concrete steps have been taken to increase the incomes of the population, including socially vulnerable groups. From June 1, the wages of public sector employees increased by up to 30 percent. The criteria for the provision of targeted social assistance was updated. This made it possible to increase the average amount of aid given and increase the number of recipients of targeted social assistance almost three-fold,” he said.
Creating favourable conditions for business will also remain a priority for the akimat. The territory of the capital’s Industrial Park is 95 percent full, and another park will be opened to accommodate the creation of new industries.
“There are concerns about the workload of projects that were launched (at the Industrial Park), some of which are generally idle. Of the 49 projects in the Industrial Park, 10 projects function according to how they were accepted. Twelve projects, which were introduced in 2017-2018, function at a workload of approximately 10 percent. There is room for work,” said Kulginov.
The akim emphasised that the capital’s new business projects ought to be export-oriented and hopes to see more light manufacturing projects, which amount to two at the moment, given the recent launch of the Economy of Simple Things state programme.
