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Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated the heating disaster that left the northeastern city of Ekibastuz at -30 levels Celsius for 10 days was the product of “irresponsible governance” and threatened to make an instance of those that didn’t coordinate the work of the facility plant.
Tokayev’s phrases, spoken at a joint assembly of ministers and regional governors on December 12, had been according to the president’s strong-arm angle of 2022. Because the occasions of Bloody January, Tokayev has proven resolve in breaking with the “previous regime” and changing it together with his so-called “New Kazakhstan.”
To take action, Tokayev has needed to present confidence. He repeatedly talked about modifications and new pathways, signaling that the time of defining him as “a product of the previous regime” was now over.
His criticism of the three-decade rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev has continued steadily since January, with sturdy phrases concerning the “colossal focus” of wealth within the palms of some, highly effective people.
On the latest authorities assembly, Tokayev tackled one more problem: a scarcity of accountability. In line with him, the federal government disregards key issues for too lengthy, till they flip into crises.
“We’re used to sweeping shopper complaints underneath the rug. This apply has led to huge penalties, which required huge sources to be resolved. We have to study the lesson, perform an investigation into why this occurred, and make acceptable selections,” Tokayev stated.
A report by Vlast.kz confirmed the dire circumstances with which residents of Ekibastuz, a metropolis of 150,000 folks positioned 300 kilometers east of Astana, needed to cope for greater than per week, after an influence plant failure throughout a chilly snap that by no means noticed temperatures go above -20 levels Celsius.
Locals might solely warmth their residences with electrical stoves, and solely when the town equipped electrical energy. Till the state of emergency was lifted on December 8, most houses solely obtained electrical energy for a couple of hours daily. Little by little, housing complexes had been reattached to the heating grid, as the issues on the Thermal Energy Plant (TPP) had been patched.
“I get up from the chilly daily at 6 a.m., as a result of at 2 a.m. they lower off electrical energy,” one resident advised Vlast.kz reporters final week.
Total houses froze; pipes burst and their contents grew to become blocks of ice. In some residential complexes, the sewage system stopped working and folks had to make use of public restrooms or emergency buckets for days.
For a rustic wealthy with vitality sources and a area crammed with mining and processing crops, the Ekibastuz catastrophe is a reminder that when sources are mismanaged, a disaster is at all times across the nook.
In an interview, the director of the plant stated that the issues at TPPs in Kazakhstan are systemic.
“Sadly, this yr we noticed quite a lot of failures at heating networks and stations, in Taldykorgan, in Almaty. Now the query of the town of Aktau arose. TPPs in Ridder, Zhezkazgan, Ust-Kamenogorsk are underneath scrutiny. In my understanding, it is a systemic drawback,” Bagdat Oral advised Vlast.kz.
The Ekibastuz TPP is owned by Central Asian Electrical Energy Company (CAEPCO), a big company managed by Aleksander Klebanov and Sergei Kan, two of Kazakhstan’s richest males. Media in Kazakhstan highlighted how their ties to extra highly effective enterprise and political elites have allowed their firm to thrive unchecked.
Now, the federal government is contemplating CAEPCO’s proposal to promote the Ekibastuz TPP to the state for the symbolic sum of 1 tenge.
On this matter, Tokayev stated that the authorities will examine what sort of accountability the the homeowners of the plant ought to bear for the community failure.
“The proposal to promote the plant to the state for 1 tenge […] must be examined. It’s mandatory to seek out out whether or not the state can successfully handle such a worn-out facility,” Tokayev stated.
That TPPs and the heating infrastructure in Kazakhstan are worn out is a widely known reality each within the authorities corridors and among the many inhabitants. Preventive mechanisms are nonetheless not in place, regardless of Tokayev’s declare that the scenario is step by step altering.
Hopes to witness an actual change in Tokayev’s New Kazakhstan had been additional pissed off when he talked about that he would fireplace authorities officers who can’t sustain with the duty of modernizing Kazakhstan. Tokayev’s phrases echoed Nazarbayev’s “there aren’t any untouchables” speech from 2015, and a number of other of the Soviet-style dressing downs of the previous that nonetheless yielded little to no change.
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