The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is developing its extensive migration profile with the International Organisation for Migration, reported the ministry press service Dec. 5. A country document will consist of detailed statistical and analytical information to assess migration situation. In the future, the profile will allow creating separate strategic directions based on factual data. The Mazhilis (lower house Parliament) is studying a draft law on amendments and additions to some legislative acts to regulate migration processes. The law provides measures to improve the mechanism for attracting labour immigrants, address migrant issues brought to administrative responsibility and implement international readmission standards in national legislation.
Domestic airlines reduced the average fare on internal routes by 12 percent, according to the Ministry of Investment and Infrastructural Development press service. FlyArystan, the country’s first low-cost airline, has affected the market and increased domestic competition, which led to lower airfares. Passenger traffic increased by 48 percent in Nur-Sultan, 45 percent in Almaty, 57 percent in Shymkent and 90 percent in Karaganda.
Nur-Sultan hosted Kazakhstan’s first Dell Technologies Forum Nov. 28. The company, which as of February had 30.4 percent women employees, has set the goal of increasing the number to 50 percent and the number of women managers by 40 percent by 2030, said Key Account Manager Anna Shemanskaya. The event gathered 250 leading local and foreign IT industry experts to discuss digital transformation. Dell Technologies is also involved in implementing major government initiatives, including the Digital Kazakhstan programme.
ArcelorMittal Temirtau will invest in General Electric electrostatic precipitators to improve environmental performance at its Karaganda metallurgical plant, reported the company press service. The project includes a fully automated emission cleaning system regulated by the electrostatic precipitator integrated controller. The system maximises purifying sinter emissions and optimising energy consumption. “The project to build new electrostatic precipitators instead of battery cyclones is being implemented as part of an environmental action plan agreed with the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Water Resources. Dust emissions from sintering machines will be reduced by 25-30 percent by the end of 2021,” said ArcelorMittal Temirtau Environmental Director Galina Drozdova.
Seven renewable energy projects will be implemented in the Akmola Region, according to Kazinform, as 45 percent of all electricity generated is expected to be from renewable energy sources by 2023. Three investment projects worth 60 billion tenge (US$156 million) have already been executed, including a 45-megawatt wind power station in the Yereymentau district, 750,000-kilowatt capacity wind power installation at the Rodina agriculture farm and 100-megawatt wind farm in the Arshaly District. “Existing wind farms have already provided 17 percent of the total energy generated in the region. This indicator will increase to 22 percent by the end of 2019 with the launch of CATEK Green Energy,” said Karashash Samratova, an energy manager with the regional Department of Energy and Housing and Public Utilities.
The share of farm animals and goods production increased in the Kostanai Region according to results from the first 10 months of the year, reported Kazinform. Approximately 1,700 tonnes of beef were exported and all food product exports totalled more than $115 million. Agriculture represents an 11.2-percent share of the gross regional product. “More than 125,000 people work in the agriculture industry. This is 26 percent of the total employed population. The region threshed three million tonnes of grain… Due to the increase in the cost of wheat this year, 300 million tenge (US$780,330) was allocated from the local budget to stabilise prices of subsided bread,” said regional Akim (Governor) Arkhimed Mukhambetov at the Central Communications Service press conference.
