Bureaucracy and Superprofits: What Is Happening with Schools' Construction in Kazakhstan?

Kazakhstan's population is steadily growing. In 2023, 388.4 thousand children were born in the country, only slightly less than in 2022. Also, in 2023, the natural population growth was 257.4 thousand people. Naturally, this creates the need for more schools, Orda.kz has looked into the situation.

Large Cities and Southern Regions

In 2024, Astana had a deficit of 26,454 student places. Problems also exist in the Almaty, Shymkent, Turkestan, and Almaty regions. 

The increase in the birth rate and migration to cities pose severe challenges to the education system.

Therefore, in 2023, Kazakhstan launched a large-scale national project called "Comfortable School." It aims to solve such issues. However, toward the end of 2024, the project's implementation faces notable difficulties, and many planned goals will remain unachieved.

Promises and Reality

By 2025, the authorities must commission 401 schools, creating 842 thousand spots for learners. However, as of the end of 2024, 30 schools with 39,500 places have been commissioned. 

The project has come across cutbacks.

The directorate is currently building 208 schools of a single standard for 217,300 places per shift. By the end of 2024, it is planned to commission 110 schools; of these, 30 schools for 39,500 places have already been put into operation. The remaining 98 schools are planned to be commissioned in 2025. In order to save budget funds without additional burden on the Republican Budget, together with the government, we decided to postpone the construction of 98 schools until 2025,JSC Samruk-Kazyna Construction said in response to an official inquiry from the editorial board. 

Finances

The construction of one “comfortable school” for 2,000 students is estimated at 10.28 billion tenge. The modern construction standards include STEM laboratories, robotics rooms, dance halls, and other modern amenities. 

The total cost of building 208 schools is 1,423.1 billion tenge. In 2023, 500 billion tenge was allocated, and these funds have been entirely utilized. In 2024, it is planned to allocate 632.9 billion tenge, of which 300 billion have already been allocated and 277.8 billion have been utilized. The budget plan for 2025 is 290.2 billion tenge.

 The main reasons for delays in project implementation include:

• Bureaucracy: complex approval and permitting procedures delay the start of construction.
• Financial constraints: despite allocating 1.4 trillion tenge for the project, the distribution and development of funds is slow.
• Corruption risks: experts and the public are concerned about possible corruption schemes, which also affect the pace of implementation.
• Difficulties in allocating land plots: local executive bodies do not always promptly provide the necessary land plots for the construction of schools.
• Akimats allocated plots based on the population's needs, but issues were identified on several plots: old buildings requiring dismantling, utility lines (power lines, gas pipelines, sewer, and water pipes) requiring relocation, close proximity to cattle burial grounds and sanitary zones, elevation differences requiring significant soil backfill, and other difficulties.
• Delays in installing utility lines: Akimats are required to provide schools with utilities and public infrastructure. However, for 53 sites, contractors for external networks were determined with a delay, which slows down the construction process. 

During the inspection of the design estimates, gross errors and attempts to artificially inflate the cost by design organizations were revealed: kilometers were indicated instead of meters, and tons instead of kilograms. In addition, unjustified use of coefficients for painting, double inclusion of the cost of materials and other violations were discovered. Design organizations turned out to be financially dependent on construction companies - consortium leaders. Pressure from contractors and poor design quality led to an increase in the cost of projects and became the main obstacle to high-quality and timely implementation, the response to the request states.

• Lengthy procedures for coordinating design and estimate documentation: obtaining a positive conclusion from the state examination takes time, delaying construction work.
• Financial constraints and allocation of funds: despite the allocation of vast amounts of money, the allocation and utilization of funds is slow, making it difficult to start and complete construction on time. 
• The need to optimize the estimated cost: the company noted that when developing the design cost, contractors tried to obtain excess profit from the national project by artificially increasing the estimated cost.
• There is an acute shortage of engineering and technical personnel.
• Individual contractors' unfair actions.
• Outdated building codes that do not meet modern requirements. Previous standards (SNiPs) have lost their relevance, and the industry has begun using Eurocodes, which, unfortunately, are parametric and require standardization and updating to unify work. 
• The lack of clear regulations and competent specialists capable of developing them complicates the implementation of not only the national project but also construction work throughout the country as a whole.
• Construction work in the Atyrau (Kulsary, a school for 1,200 students), West Kazakhstan (Pugachevo village, a school for 300 students), and North Kazakhstan (Petropavlovsk, a school for 600 students) regions was temporarily suspended in April 2024 due to flooding in the construction sites.

All the contractors’ workforce and equipment were used for disaster relief, which inevitably led to adjustments to the construction schedule,” the company added.

But Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC does not consider these points problems and believes opinions about delays are incorrect. Earlier, JSC Chair Maulen Aymanbetov noted that construction delays are related to the company's high standards. 

These are not delays. There is a standard construction period. Schools for 2,000 students should be built in 25-28 months. We understand the government's desire to build according to the directive, but there is a quality issue. Akimats build only for 1,200 students, we build for 2,000-2,500 students. First of all, quality is important. It cannot be that you wake up in the morning and the school is there, Aymanbetov explained in August 2024. 

Corruption

In April 2024, Deputy Chair of the Board of JSC Samruk-Kazyna Construction Boranbay Bulatbekov was detained.

He is suspected of abuse of office, which led to damage to the state of two billion tenge when he headed Shymkent's Department of Energy and Infrastructure Development.

In particular, violations were identified while implementing a public-private partnership project for the reconstruction and construction of outdoor lighting in the city, where the contractor did not fulfill part of the obligations but received full payment.

As of February 23, 2023, Amangeldy Sattarov was the board deputy chair, but he resigned in October 2024. Now, they are looking for a replacement.  

The following deputy chairs of the board work in the management of JSC Samruk-Kazyna Construction under Maulen Aymanbetov:

Gabit Tleukenovich Malgazdarov — First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board. Appointed to this position in September 2023. Previously, he was deputy chairman of the management board for construction and operations and project manager at Integra Construction KZ LLP. 

Ilyas Aldazharov — Deputy Chair of the Management Board for Operations. Appointed in June 2024. Has over 30 years of experience, holding senior positions in the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Astana City Energy Department, and other organizations. 

These appointments reflect the company's desire to strengthen the management team for effective project implementation.

But for now, we can conclude that the national "Comfortable School" project is behind schedule.

Hopefully, it does not share the fate of "Rukhani Zhangyru," "Green Kazakhstan," or any other large-scale initiatives ruined by the corruption and incompetence of the responsible parties.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov