Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan. 17 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The new Regional Development Ministry in Kazakhstan must intensify regional activity in terms of drawing investments, Kazakh political analyst Dosym Satpayev said today.
"The decision on establishing the new Regional Development Ministry is aimed at promoting regional development," Satpayev told Trend on Thursday.
He associates this decision with the meeting the President held at the end of last year with the heads of regions and harshly criticised their activity.
"The president recalled the causes of the severe criticism, beginning from the failure of many investment projects and finishing by creating the problems in the state programme implementation," he said. "The inefficient activity of akims (governors) was another reason. The president referred to them as an 'apanage prince'.
He said that establishing such a ministry from the point of view of the Kazakh leadership must remove all these problems and restore order in the regions.
"In principle, such a ministry was to appear earlier," he said. "Though many regions differ from each other, as some of them are donors of the state budget, others are depressed, but they all have one disease which is passive work on drawing investments. All await instructions from the centre, while the president was repeatedly saying that the regions must be the initiators of important projects for the whole country."
He added that Astana was concerned by the fact that the regions were operating solely and had a passive attitude towards national policy.
"Therefore, the new ministry must accelerate the development process of independence in the regions," Satpayev said.
Previously, the Kazakh President ordered the establishment of a separate ministry to deal with regional issues namely the Regional Development Ministry. Bakhytzhan Sagintayev headed this department. This testifies to the importance attached to the work of the regions. Sagintayev was also appointed as the First Deputy Prime Minister.
The Agency for Construction and Housing and Communal Services and the Agency for Land Management will subordinate to the newly created ministry.