BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.4
Trend:
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources continues to clarify the norms of the new Environmental Code in the country’s regions, Trend reports referring to a source in the ministry.
According to the source, a working meeting with the residents of Almaty city was held on the Code norms on Feb.4, during which the ministry’s head Magzum Mirzagaliyev called the issue of air quality in the city as an urgent problem.
"The city of Almaty has been one of the most polluted cities of the country for the last several years. The pollution is caused by emissions from heat sources, including combined heat-power plants (CHPs) No 2 and 3, private residential buildings and traffic congestion. To solve these problems, in August 2020, the Government approved the Roadmap for a comprehensive solution to environmental problems of the city ", said Mirzagaliyev.
Besides, according to the minister, in 2019 the share of heat sources in the city's atmosphere accounted for 34 percent: CHP-2 – 26 percent (37,800 tons) and CHP-3 – 8 percent (11,700 tons). At present, Samruk-Energo JSC is developing a feasibility study for the project ‘Modernization of Almaty CHP-2 with minimization of environmental impact’.
"Reconstruction of CHP-2 for burning natural gas on existing boilers will reduce the CHP emissions by 83 percent, and such prevailing toxic substances as sulfur dioxide, ash dust will fully disappear. Similar solutions are needed for CHP-3 located in the Almaty region, emissions of which affect the air basin of Almaty by 8 percent," he stressed.
Mirzagaliyev also informed that the new edition of the Environmental Code significantly strengthened the role of the public both in assessing the impact on the environment and in carrying out state environmental control.
"The implementation of the Environmental Code is extremely important for the republic as a whole and for each region separately,” said the minister. “Timely and high-quality implementation of the Roadmap, where central and local state bodies are involved, will lead to an improvement in the environmental situation in the city of Almaty. In this connection, I propose to hear about the implementation of the items of the Roadmap by the responsible state bodies before the public.”
Along with tightening responsibility and strengthening the role of the public, enterprises will have no choice but to switch to more environmentally friendly technologies and reduce emissions, which will lead to a real improvement in the environmental situation, he added.