ASTANA – Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov highlighted the crucial role of private investment in speeding up major infrastructure, industrial projects, and digitalization while emphasizing the need for effective monitoring to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget during a Feb. 10 meeting with Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund board of directors.
The meeting focused on the fund’s 2024 performance and its future growth. Photo credit: Prime Minister’s press service.
The meeting focused on the fund’s 2024 performance and future growth, aligned with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s directives during an expanded government meeting on Jan. 28.
Nurlan Zhakupov, chairman of the board, reported on significant investment initiatives, including the restoration of power unit No. 1 at Ekibastuz State Regional Power Plant (GRES-1) with a capacity increase to 4,000 megawatt (MW), the implementation of a gas infrastructure project for Almaty Combined Heat and Power Plant-2 (CHP-2) and CHP-3 to enhance environmental conditions.
Other key projects include the introduction of a fifth compressor at Karachaganak field and a cargo terminal in Xian to boost Kazakhstan’s transport and logistics. More than 250 kilometers of gas pipelines and 500 kilometers of railway tracks were constructed, with train services launched on a 132-kilometer section of the Dostyk-Moiynty railway. Innovative projects such as a pumped storage station and Kazakhstan’s first digital substation in Astana were also initiated.
Currently, 46 investment projects are being executed across sectors such as oil and gas, energy, transport, and petrochemicals, valued at 33.3 trillion tenge (US$64.9 billion).
This year, key projects include the gas supply to 66 settlements in the Zhetisu Region through the Taldykorgan-Usharal pipeline, a desalination plant in Kenderli to address water shortages and enhancements to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) and Dostyk-Moiynty railway.
Efforts are underway to complete the second section of the Beineu-Bozoi-Shymkent gas pipeline and expand fuel hydrotreating and bitumen production capabilities. Local content in projects is expected to reach 85% for transport and logistics, 60% for energy, and 80% for other sectors.
In 2024, contracts worth 1.1 trillion tenge (US$2.1 billion) were signed with domestic producers, a 76% increase from the previous year, while off-take contracts saw a tenfold increase to 191 billion tenge (US$372 million). The fund’s procurement system now meets high standards set by international bodies like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
