Kazakhstan, the biggest energy producer in central Asia, plans to invest 150 billion tenge ($1 billion) through 2012 to spur residential construction, Bloomberg reported.
The government will spend 40 billion tenge to build infrastructure needed for new development, Serik Nokin, head of the state housing agency, said during a Cabinet meeting in the capital Astana today.
Forty-one billion tenge will be provided to local authorities for the construction of public housing, Nokin said at the meeting in a broadcast posted on the website of Prime Minister Karim Masimov.
The remaining money will be deposited in commercial banks, which will provide mortgages to buyers of low-cost homes. The initiative will contribute to building 6 million square meters of residential property a year, Nokin said.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 70, last month called snap elections for April and scrapped a referendum on extending his 22-year rule. The government must spent 75 billion tenge this year to boost residential building, Nazarbayev said in a Feb. 11 speech to his ruling Nur Otan Party.
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