During the meeting, the urgent issues and prospects for the capital city’s development, as well as organizational aspects of the international exhibition, were discussed.
Opening the meeting, the Head of the State noted the importance of the upcoming exhibition EXPO-2017 for the country and the nation, drawing attention to the need for careful preparation for receiving foreign guests and tourists from all regions of Kazakhstan.
- We have reached the final stage of preparations, and a lot of work has been done. The capital must be ready to meet a large number of guests. It is necessary to prepare infrastructure, hotels, cultural facilities, and city services, the President of Kazakhstan said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed that Astana should become one of the world’s best cities, comfortable and convenient for people's lives. In this regard, the President of Kazakhstan has given a number of instructions for the capital’s further development.
- Modern digital technologies should be adopted in all spheres of city management. The government should specify Astana as the main platform for digitization. According to my instructions, the International Technopark of IT Startups will be created on the EXPO area, the Head of State said.
The President of Kazakhstan also instructed to develop the city on the model of Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and create on its base a financial and business hub in the Eurasian space scale.
- 2700 foreign companies work in Astana these days. They invested about 3.2 billion US dollars in the city’s economy. At the same time, the existing opportunities are not fully used. The level of involving the special economic zone facilities of Astana is low. The further development of the capital must take into account the processes of urbanization. By 2030, its population could grow by another one million people. That challenges the city with ensuring productive employment via creation of new permanent jobs, Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed.
The head of the state separately dwelled on the issue of housing sector development and instructed the Government to deal with the waiting lists for housing from the state housing fund.
- The city should keep the volume of annual housing commissioning at a level of at least 2 million square meters per year. It is necessary to intensify the work on demolition of illegal buildings, development of existing 15 thousand garden plots, which should not be under the General Plan. It is necessary to free the central districts of the city from ramshackle housing construction. I instruct Astana mayor to make proposals on the capital city’s compact growth, the President of Kazakhstan said.
In addition, Nursultan Nazarbayev noted the growth of shadow market dwelling services, the problem of co-investors and drew attention to the need for modern transport infrastructure.
- Astana has a significant potential for becoming a tourist center. I instruct the Government together with akims to take measures to cultivate the capital's tourism, the President of Kazakhstan said.
The Head of the State pointed to the insufficient work to provide the capital with food.
- Greenhouses, a communal market, a network of shopping pavilions built in the city are not loaded enough. So, out of eight vegetable stores, two are not functioning, and the rest are loaded by a quarter. At the same time, over the past two years, imported foodstuffs worth more than 42 billion tenge were delivered to Astana. In many ways, this is what we can produce ourselves. All that suggests that activities for developing the food belt around Astana, in fact, failed, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
The Head of the State drew attention to the issues of preparing the city for the international exhibition "EXPO-2017" and determined the priority tasks for the national company and the Cabinet.
- Construction of most of the facilities is over and ready for operation. At the same time, building activity continues at the Congress Center and the hotel. It is required to ensure their timely commissioning. The guests’ impression is formed from the moment they arrive at the airport and train stations. The complete readiness of the entire infrastructure is important. The airports of Almaty, Karaganda and Kokshetau, as reserve, should also be ready for welcoming the guests, the President of Kazakhstan said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev noted the need to organize a roadside service for tourists who arrive by car.
The Head of the State also focused on organization of cultural and mass events and significant events during the exhibition, information work, safety of guests and residents of the capital city, and also asked about the readiness level of volunteers to meet the guests.
- As for informative content of the exhibition. Not all participating countries have approved their projects of expositions. I entrust EXPO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with speeding up the process of content filling by all foreign participants of their pavilions. Kazakhstan’s pavilion will also be in the spotlight. 28 domestic developments have been selected, including our higher education institutions’ projects.
It is important that our exhibits are not inferior to the international ones, the President of Kazakhstan pointed out.
Aset Isekeshev, akim of Astana, Akhmetzhan Yessimov, Chairman of “Astana Expo-2017” National Company JSC Board, Kairat Bozumbayev, Energy Minister, and Kalmukhanbet Kasymov, Interior Minister, spoke at the meeting.
