Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov during a working trip to the Mangystau region familiarised himself with the measures taken on socio-economic development of the single-industry town of Zhanaozen within the framework of the tasks set by the Head of State in the Address to the Nation "Fair Kazakhstan: law and order, economic growth, social optimism", El.kz cites primeminister.kz.
In particular, the pace of modernisation of infrastructure, improving the quality of education, providing employment and other important areas have been checked.
The Head of Government familiarised himself with the plans to diversify the economy of the single-industry town with a focus on opening new industries. More than 150 thousand people live in Zhanaozen. According to forecasts, by 2035 the population will exceed 200 thousand inhabitants. Taking into account the expected growth, the importance of providing employment for the townspeople was emphasised, including through strengthening measures to support business initiatives of the population.
Attention is paid to the development of housing and communal infrastructure. Olzhas Bektenov was informed that Zhanaozen and adjacent rural settlements are 100% provided with centralised water supply, household gas and electricity. An important project for the life support of the single-industry town is the modernisation of the water treatment plant, which supplies the residents with drinking water. In order to increase the facility's capacity, it is planned to build reservoirs for accumulating water reserves in the amount of 30,000 m3 in 2025.
The industrial development of the single-industry town and the launch of new production facilities require additional volumes of electricity. To cover the growing needs, NC KazMunayGas JSC and the Italian company ENI have launched an investment project to build a hybrid power plant with a total capacity of 247 MW. The project involves the use of combined generation of RES (solar and wind energy) and the construction of a gas-fired power plant.
Olzhas Bektenov familiarised himself with the measures taken to provide residents with affordable and quality education. Thus, within the framework of the Comfortable School National Project a modern school for 1.2 thousand seats is planned to be commissioned in Zhanaozen by the end of this year. Next year it is planned to build two more comfortable schools. In addition, construction of the Bolashaq Sarayi Schoolchildren's Palace for 350 seats has begun for the comprehensive development of children and youth. The project implemented by Ozenmunaigas is one of the examples of social responsibility of business. The schoolchildren's palace is planned to be put into operation by next year.
Head of the Government was also reported on the progress of construction of a new gas processing plant in the city. The launch of the project will not only meet the needs of the population for additional volumes of gas, but most importantly will give impetus to further development of industry and creation of petrochemical products with high added value. The plant will have a production capacity of 900 billion m3 of associated petroleum and natural gas mixture, as well as 5 thousand tonnes of gas condensate per year. Construction work began in November 2023, with full completion of the two start-up complexes scheduled for early 2027.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the construction of the gas processing plant will have a wide multiplicative effect on the economic and social development of the region.
"The Head of State in his Address to the Nation set a task: to provide new points of growth for the economy of single-industry towns. Special emphasis should be placed on social well-being and improving the quality of life of people. It is extremely important to support the comprehensive development of Zhanaozen as one of the largest single-industry towns in Kazakhstan.It is necessary to ensure quality and timely implementation of all social and infrastructure projects.Investments and creation of new jobs are important.
The construction of a new gas processing plant is also under special control. We have three gas processing plants, which the President has instructed to be built on time. These are Kashagan, Karachaganak and Zhanaozen.Everything must be of high quality.We will control," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.