Kazakhstan to start power plant construction

Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan.27 / Trend, L. Podolyak /

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered the government to begin building the Balkhash power plant.

"I instruct the government to ensure the construction of the first module of the Balkhash power plant with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts and a cost of $2.3 billion in 2012," he told parliament.

Commissioning the plant will reduce the energy deficit in the country's southern regions.