President chaired session with Almaty, Astana Mayors and regional Governors
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov, Head of the Presidential Administration Aslan Musin, akims of the regions and Mayors of Astana and Almaty cities took part in the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting the President noted that the programs on economic development had been worked out. The programs of the highest priority are the Forced Industrial-Innovation Development State Program, Employment-2020, Productivity-2020, Business Road Map, etc. The state has already allocated KZT 165 bln for realization of these programs discounting industrialization programs. Besides, a number of other programs is underway.
The President said that in the form of transfers the regions received KZT 1.5 trillion.
'All directions of the programs we carry out are financially supported. The most important part now is the execution, we have to fulfill the tasks. The task that was set is to ensure a 7 percent economy increase this year and next years. It is an ambitious task. We cannot guarantee stability of the world economy,' the President said.
The 7.1 percent economic growth has been achieved in the country. The volume of industrial production has increased by 6 percent. The biggest industrial growth was in Astana city (44.9 %), Akmola region (38.9%), Zhambyl region (28 %) and in Almaty it equaled 22 %. The setback in this sphere was seen in Pavlodar and Kostanay regions (2 and 1%) respectively. The number of active business entities has increased by 6 %, trade volume by 15 %. Average per capita income of the people of Kazakhstan increased by 12.5 %.
'We have raised pensions by 30 % since the beginning of the year and raised them 2 times over the course of 3 years. The salaries of public sector employees were also raised by 30 % since July 1. We have managed to do it in spite of the crisis,' the President emphasized.
The Forced Industrial-Innovation Development State Program was launched last year. 152 projects were realized during the first year. 25 thousand jobs have been created. 75 projects have been realized since the beginning of 2011. The total cost of these projects is KZT 114 bln. 129 projects are going to be realized and put into operation by the yearend. On the whole, it will be 204 facilities put into operation this year.
'All these facilities that we put into service contribute a lot to development of our economy. More important that these realized projects form the basis of further diversification of our economy,' the Head of State noted.
The President also said the situation with pricing for fuel and lubricants and food must be under special attention. The prices for fuel and lubricants are rising worldwide because the prices for oil are rising every day.
'We need to inform people about it. We have the cheapest prices in this sphere compared to our neighboring countries. This situation cannot remain the same forever. The prices in Kazakhstan will increase like in the whole world,' N. Nazarbayev said.
The President also noted that prices for food have increased in all regions since the beginning of the year.
'The fact that it is often explained by high fuel and lubricants prices is false. The Government of Kazakhstan and regional akims are working closely on these issues. For your information, a number of countries have complete control over prices for certain products and services. In the Address to the Nation I set the task to increase the labor productivity of agriculture by means of introduction of new technologies two times by 2015. Many regions are far from it right now. I visit the places where we already have these technologies in Kazakhstan to show that it is possible in our country.
Many regions still have vegetables and potatoes crop at around 15 tons per ha level. Though, it can be 60 and 100 tons per ha using drip irrigation system. This system can be used everywhere - south, north, east, west, it does not matter. We just have to work hard and we will achieve all the goals we set.
The Head of State noted that every region should launch project on introduction of advanced technologies of drip irrigation and accelerate the construction of greenhouses, vegetable storages and reprocessing enterprises.
Speaking of the upcoming harvest campaign the President said that KZT 177 bln was allocated from the national budget including KZT 55 bln of subsidies and KZT 17 bln for establishment of a stabilization funds in the regions. Besides, over 400 thousand tons of fuel at preferential prices was provided for the campaign as well. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture, the grain harvest is expected to reach 17-17.5 mln tons.
"Speaking of the preparation to the upcoming heating season, I instructed to review the preparedness of regions to the upcoming winter season. As the analysis showed, to date 66% of boiler houses, 64% of heating mains, 57% of water supply networks wee repaired. 65% of healthcare, education and other social facilities were prepared to the heating season as well," the President said.
The debts of consumers of utility services remain high (about KZT 10 bln). The highest debts fall at Almaty, Astana, Almaty region and Kyzylorda region, N.Nazarbayev noted.
"I charge the regional Governors to conduct works on preparation of housing and utility facilities to the upcoming heating season," the President said.
The Head of State also noted that the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence celebrated in accordance with the approved plan and provided with necessary funds.
"We enter the final stage of the celebration. The regional activates are the most important part of the program. The Governors should create an atmosphere of celebration everywhere. I wish you every success in implementation of the set tasks," the President said.
At the end of the meeting Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a number of specific instructions.