For 2025, the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurzhan Nurzhigitov announced grandiose plans for the construction of four new reservoirs in the country at once. The matter, of course, is important; there is no shame in taking out even a loan from the Islamic Development Bank for it. The main thing is that construction begins and ends on time, because inflation does not bypass the building materials market. And what is now estimated at $2.7 billion could cost much more in a year. But it seems that there are problems with the timing of the construction of hydraulic structures: a correspondent for Ulysmedia.kz tried to find the corresponding lots on the government procurement portal, but it was not possible to understand who and when will build new reservoirs in Kazakhstan.

Few plans have been built, there are a lot of plans

Construction of 42 new reservoirs and repair of 37 existing hydraulic structures by 2030 — it seems that employees of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation will wake up at night, they will report on these department plans without hesitation.

But what of this has already been built? Or at least in the pre-launch phase? After all, there is very little time left until 2030. As the relevant ministry admitted in response to an official request from our editors, completion of the facilities is still in the future.

    — In 2024, construction of a reservoir «Baidibek ata» began in the Baidibek district of the Turkestan region for 68 million cubic meters. Implementation period 2024-2026.  Also, in 2024, construction of a reservoir «Karakuys» began in the Kemekalgan rural district of the Toleibiysky district, Turkestan region for 1 million cubic meters of water. This project will be completed by the end of this year,” Vice Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erbolat Ibraikhanov told us.

In addition, as Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov has repeatedly stated, construction of 4 more reservoirs is planned to begin this year. Three of them — in the south of the country: on the Talas, Kalguty rivers and on the Karauzyak channel, the fourth — in the West Kazakhstan region on the Bolshoy Uzen River.

The department also announced repair work on a number of reservoirs. In particular, it is planned to «capitalize» Ters-Ashchybulak and Karakoniz in the Zhambyl region, the Koksaray counter-regulator and the Koskorgan reservoir in the Turkestan region. Money has also been allocated for the restoration and digitalization of irrigation canals and other important work to provide the population with water in the summer and protection from floods in the spring.

   — In 2025, it is planned to implement 98 projects worth 173.7 billion tenge, which is 73% more than the 2024 level, including 6.5 billion tenge at the expense of the EBRD, 24.4 billion tenge – IDB. In turn, using the provided funds in the amount of 70.8 billion tenge, it is planned to complete 12 group water supply projects by the end of the year, which will provide 153 villages with high-quality drinking water with a population of 423 thousand people, Nurzhigitov previously reported at a government meeting.

Akim hesitates, the minister has nothing to do with it

The meeting was at the very end of June, but Minister Nurzhigitov, it seems, did not make a reservation: even in the regional news there is not a word about the start of work on the construction of reservoirs. We did not find any advertisements for the announced projects on the State Procurement portal from the subsidiary MVRI — RSE “Kazvodkhoz”, so we directly asked the department: where to look for those reservoirs that Kazakhstan plans to build this year?

Erbolat Ibraikhanov explained that the akimats are responsible for the construction of iconic facilities.

   —Funds from the republican budget were sent in the form of transfers to regional budgets. In particular, for 8 regions of the country — Akmola, Almaty, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Zhetisu, Pavlodar, Zhambyl and Turkestan — the allocated funds are intended for the implementation of projects aimed at improving water supply, restoring water bodies and increasing the efficiency of water resource use in the above regions, — he specified.

At the same time, for some objects, in particular, for the Kalguty reservoir “planned start” — this is the development of design estimates, and the work itself will begin only in 2026.

At the same time, there are no announcements from akimats for these reservoirs.

The largest lot associated with hydraulic structures in recent times — are bank protection dams on Lake Alakol, as well as the overhaul of the Great Almaty Canal named after Kunaev. The facilities are, of course, important, but not those announced by the water ministry.

One thing has been announced, another is being built

Of the reservoirs being repaired, neither Koksaray nor Koskorgan are yet on the government procurement portal. But quite unexpectedly, announcements appeared on the website about the construction of dams along the Badam River in Shymkent. The Department for the Development of a Comfortable Urban Environment of the City of Shymkent allocates more than 2.5 billion tenge for these purposes.

   — The guide dam and the differential structure of the Badam River are designed to protect against floods and coastal destruction. The goal of the project: to increase the basin and strengthen the banks of the river. Badam to prevent flooding during floods of populated areas, irrigated lands located along the banks of the river, as well as to protect bridge crossings from erosion, — says the technical specification for all lots associated with this construction.

At the same time, the administration of Shymkent decided to finance the construction of several stages of construction of a hydraulic structure at once.

The well-known company HYDROLIFE-2050 in Shymkent won 3 out of 4 competitions. It built many dams in the region, despite the fact that the main type of business of the LLP is the activity of freight road transport.

The surprise is that the Badam hydroelectric complex is officially considered to be in satisfactory condition. Why was it necessary to urgently repair it?

At the same time, the state “Kazvodkhoz” holds tenders for minor repair work in various regions of the country. Forget the body of the dam for 11.7 million tenge in the Akmola region, replace old water seals for 12 million… The largest application from “Kazvodkhoz” — 2 lots for the repair of the Kaztalovsky reservoir in the West Kazakhstan region, with a total amount of less than 65 million tenge.

Where there are documents, that’s where we work

One of the employees “of Kazvodkhoz” reported on the paradoxical nature of the situation, on condition of anonymity.

   —Almost all the hydraulic structures discussed now were planned for repair back in 2019 and earlier, but until 2024, catastrophically little money was allocated for the implementation of these projects. As a result, all estimates must be double-checked, and this is not easy to do, because they were approved earlier, says a water industry specialist.

In addition, he admits: there are few water engineers left in the country, which is why new estimates are drawn up with such “squeak”, and the constructed projects often turn out to be of poor quality.

Indirectly, the version that there is nothing in the department except “paper” plans is confirmed by the Vice Minister of Water Resources. He notes that for 4 reservoirs announced for 2025, the development of design estimates has only recently been completed, and for some projects it is necessary to raise documents from five years ago.

   —In the Akmola region, a positive conclusion of the feasibility study (feasibility study) dated April 2, 2019 was received for the project to build the Yesil counter-regulator on the Yesil River. Currently, work is underway to develop design estimates (DES). The volume of the counter-regulator will be 833.0 million m³, the area of irrigated land — 94.1 thousand hectares. The project is scheduled for implementation in 2025-2028, he says.

The question is, how many more such “outdated” estimates for reservoirs across the country? Will it then be necessary to build strategic facilities in a hurry, just to fulfill the president’s instructions?

How high quality will this construction be?

A touch to the picture

Recently, an appeal to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was recorded residents of the village of Akbulak from West Kazakhstan region. In 2022, the company “AksaiStroyServis and K” repaired the dam for 106.4 million tenge from the budget. The dam did not live even six months. For 2 years, villagers have not known how to water their livestock and are looking for the truth in the akimats. No one conducted an investigation — why did the dam not withstand the first spring? And if 106.4 million tenge nationwide is relatively small money, now amounts of many times more are allocated for reservoirs. In fact, it turns out that no one bears personal responsibility for them: akimats cannot finance projects without state examination, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs only coordinates the work and then undertakes to accept the constructed reservoirs on the balance sheet “of Kazvodkhoz”. 

Anna Velichko (Ulysmedia.kz)