KAZAKHSTAN ENVIRONMENT UPDATE, JANUARY 31, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 000560

SIPDIS

TASHKENT FOR EPUTNAM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SENV ENRG EPET KZ ECONOMIC
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN ENVIRONMENT UPDATE, JANUARY 31, 2006


1. Summary: This information is drawn primarily from the
Kazakhstani press and has not yet been verified. The
opinions expressed in this report, therefore, should not be
interpreted as official positions and/or policy of the U.S.
Government.

-- GOK Appropriates over 60 Million Tenge for Bird Flu Treatment
-- New Minister of the Environment Appointed
-- Number of People Infected with HIV and AIDS Continues to Grow
-- Mangystau Oblast Plans to Build a Repository for Radioactive
Wastes
-- Oil spill into the Caspian Sea at the Port of Aktau
-- Kazakhstan Must Develop its Renewable Energy Sources
-- New Plans to Build a Nuclear Power Station in Kazakhstan
-- First Communications Satellite to be Launched by June 20
-- Many Lives Lost due to Severe Weather
-- Violations Have Been Revealed in the "Drinking Water" program
in RK


GOK Appropriates over 60 Million Tenge for Bird Flu Treatment
-------------- --------------


2. The Kazakhstani government has appropriated more than 60
million tenge to procure a medicinal treatment of the bird
flu, the Deputy Chief State Health Inspector of Kazakhstan
and Sanitary & Epidemiological Service's Chief Physician
Kenes Ospanov said. "The Swiss medicine Tamiflu has
demonstrated its efficiency in treating people infected with
the bird flu," he said at a January 17 press conference in
Almaty. He stressed that the medicine would not be freely
sold because of the risk of people "buying it up just in
case and filling their personal stocks," leaving the
medicine in short supply for the infected. Ospanov also
announced that Kazakhstan intends to buy bird flu vaccines
abroad in the future. Meanwhile, Kazakhstani scientists at
the Agriculture Research Institute, part of the National
Biotechnology Center, are developing a vaccine against the
bird flu. The vaccine will be "very effective" in the fight
against the spread of the avian flu among birds. Scientists
have not yet specified the completion date of the vaccine as
no funds have been received from the state. (Interfax-
Kazakhstan, January 16, 17, 2006)


New Minister of the Environment Appointed
--------------


3. On January 19, President Nazarbayev signed a decree appointing
ex-governor of the Karaganda Oblast, Kamaltin
Mukhamedzhanov, as the environmental protection minister.
Mukhamedzhanov, 57, graduated from the Ust-Kamenogorsk Road
Construction Institute and the Russian State Service Academy
under the Russian Federation President, DSc, and holds
degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering economy.
(Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 19, 2006)


Number of People Infected with HIV and AIDS Continues to Grow
-------------- --------------


4. As of November 2005, 846 cases of HIV infection were reported
compared to 633 during the same period of 2004. Between
January and November 2005, 93 new AIDS cases were reported
compared with 68 during the same period in 2004. In
November 2005, 101 new HIV cases were registered as compared
with 54 in 2004. In Kazakhstan, a country of 15.1 million,
4696 HIV infected people were registered as of January 1,
2005, and 5440 as of late November 2005, including 313 AIDS
cases. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 12, 2005)

Mangystau Oblast Plans Repository for Radioactive Wastes
-------------- --------------


5. Mangystau Oblast plans to build a regional repository for low-
level and average-level radioactive wastes in 2008. The
development of the feasibility study has been scheduled for
2007, while the construction is tentatively scheduled for

2008. According to Orynbasar Togzhanov, Deputy Head of the
Mangystau Oblast Administration for Managing Natural
Resources, this repository will store unclaimed radioactive
wastes around Aktau. Togzhanov added that the oblast has
concluded a contract on the depository construction with the
Institute of Nuclear Physics and the National Nuclear Center
of Kazakhstan. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 12, 2005)

Oil Spill into the Caspian Sea at the Port of Aktau
-------------- --------------


6. Approximately one ton of oil spilled into the Caspian Sea at
the port of Aktau on January 6. The incident occurred while
loading the Lenkoran tanker (Baku, Azerbaijan),as reported
by the Kazakhstani Emergency Situations Ministry. According
to Yklas Nogayev, Head of the Mangystau Oblast
Administration for Managing Natural Resources, the damage
inflicted to the environment totaled 1.5 million tenge. "The
site of the incident has been enclosed by booms and measures
to mop up the oil have been taken," he said. On January 18,
the Mangystau oblast territorial administration for
environment protection announced that the loading operator
"Artic Overseas S.A. Kazakhstan" LLP and the crew of the
Lenkoran were responsible for the oil spill by overfilling
tank #12. The total damage is estimated at 834,565 tenge.
The Administration has sent a protocol-claim to defaulters
to compensate for the damage. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, Jan. 6,
Earthwire Kazakhstan, Jan. 7, Panorama, Jan. 13, Interfax-
Kazakhstan, Jan. 18, 2006)

Kazakhstan Must Develop Its Renewable Energy Sources
-------------- --------------

7. As a result of heightened interest in renewable energy sources
(RES),the world consumption of sun and wind powered RES has
grown by 25%-30% between 1984 and 2005. Annual investments
during this period totaled 10%. Despite having enormous
potential for wind energy development (3 TW a year) and
ranking first worldwide in wind energy resources per capita
according to "Kazselenergoproekt" SRI, there is only one
small 500 kW wind assembly unit in Kazakhstan. The unit was
built recently by the "Almatyavtomatika" company. However,
there are about 15 perspective sites for big wind power
stations in Kazakhstan, including Dzungarian Gates and
Shelek corridor in the Almaty oblast. Kazakhstan's vast
territory, remoteness of many settlements from power
sources, cost of power transportation and environmental
safety issues also attest to the need to develop renewable
energy sources. To develop this sector, a number of state
programs and GOK resolutions have been adopted, such as:
"On Measures to Implement Energy Saving Policy in the
RK,"
A law "On Conserving Energy,"
"On The Program of Developing Electric Energy up to
2030"
"On the Development of Wind Energy"

At the end of the last year, a bid for the construction of a 5MW
5MW
pilot wind power station at Dzungarian Gates was won by ALD-
Consulting LLP, although Japanese Tohoki Electric Power Do
Inc. also plans to participate in the project. As the
project is risky due to a lack of normative acts, the EBRD
and National Innovation Fund also intend to participate in
the project. ("Development of alternative sources of energy
in the world" by Erkebulan Orazaliev in "Kazakhstan in
Global Processes, No. 4, 2005; Panorama, January 20, 2006;
Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, January 27, 2006. )

New Plans to Build a Nuclear Power Station in Kazakhstan
-------------- --------------


8. Kazakhstani Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov has stressed the
need to build a nuclear power station in the country.
"The Energy [and Mineral Resources] Ministry's most
serious task is to prepare the feasibility study on the
construction of an atomic station in Kazakhstan," the
prime minister said, speaking at a government meeting in
Astana. "The postponement of this process is one of the
problems that will hamper industrial and innovation
development," he stressed. In connection with this,
Akhmetov instructed the Energy and Mineral Resources
Ministry "to set up a working group to study the problem
and submit proposals within the first quarter of this
year." (The Times of Central Asia, January 25, 2005)

First Communications Satellite to Be Launched by June 20
-------------- --------------


9. The launch of the first Kazakhstani satellite Kazsat should
take place before June 20, said the Head of the Space
Communications Complex Department Alexander Martynov. He
also announced that they were considering all possibilities
to launch the satellite earlier. Answering jounalists'
questions, he mentioned that they did not think they had
disrupted the launch schedule. "The contract on Kazsat does
not exclude the possibility of delaying the launch," he
added. According to the PM D. Akhmetov, Kazakhstan intends
to launch three satellites in the next 24-30 months,
including a second geostationary land remote-sensing
satellite and a telecom satellite. By 2012, according to
Head of Kazkosmos Company Serik Turzhanov, Kazakhstan plans
to create four telecom satellites, four land remote-sensing
satellites and several satellites for the global navigation
system (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 25-26, 2006).

Many Lives Lost Due to Severe Weather
--------------


10. Severe frosts in Kazakhstan beginning the second week of
January caused numerous problems and even resulted in
several deaths. As a result of avalanches in the mountains,
two people died in Almaty and one woman in the Fabrichnoye
settlement. Seven people died from frostbite in Kostanai
oblast, while 15 people were frostbitten in Astana. Ten
people suffered hypothermia effects in Petropavlovsk and
another ten in Pavlodar, some of which had their legs
amputated. Both the "Tulpar" train from Astana to Almaty and
a bus with 40 passengers traveling from Almaty to Urdzhar
were evacuated midway into their routes by road police and
employees of the Emergency Situations Service. (Interfax-
Kazakhstan, January 19-31, 2006).


Violations Discovered in the "Drinking Water" Program
-------------- --------------


11. Despite the fact that the first stage of the program "Drinking
Water" for 2002-2005 has been completed, the water supply
system in rural areas continues to decay. As a result, the
General Procurator's Office took an interest in the program
implementation by investigating its progress in the Pavlodar
oblast. The investigation showed that 10 million tenge of
state money had been misused. Specifically, in the villages
of Mikhailovka and Alakol acceptance certificates read that
the Contractor had been paid 24 million tenge, though the
actual cost of performed work did not exceed 13.5 million
tenge. Additionally, the "new" water supply systems do not
work. Officials from the Committee for Water Resources
signed these certificates, inflicting financial damage
totaling eight million tenge. Similar violations have been
revealed in the Akmola oblast by the contractor
"Astanaavtostroy." The General Procurator's Office stated
that the Department for Economic Crimes and Corruption
initiated proceedings against the Director of
"Astanaavtostroy." Additionaly, the damage in Akmola oblast
totaled 12 million tenge. (Izvestiya, January 24, 2006)

ORDWAY