BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16
Trend:
In his address to the people of Kazakhstan, the country’s president instructed to focus on environmental problems in the country, especially air quality, Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Regulation and Control of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan Zulfukhar Zholdasov, said, Trend reports citing the Kazakh media.
Zholdasov made the statement during a briefing in the Central Communications Service.
“In the medium term, 10 most polluted cities need to be supplied with gas and be transferred to alternative energy sources,” the chairman said.
“The results of environmental monitoring by Kazhydromet showed that at the end of 2020, 45 industrial cities and 10 large cities belong to the zone with a high level of air pollution. These are the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Karaganda, Temirtau, Atyrau, Aktobe, Balkhash, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Zhezkazgan and Shymkent,” Zholdasov said.
“The causes of urban air pollution can be divided into three categories. So, in the cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan, the main percentage of pollution is from heat sources (boiler houses), vehicles and the private sector. In Ust-Kamenogorsk and Temirtau, the largest volume of emissions falls on the industry. The reason for the high pollution is outdated sewage treatment facilities in Aktobe and Atyrau,” Zholdasov said.
“The Ministry, within the framework of the concept of a ‘hearing state’, considered environmental problems and ways to solve them with the community of the regions, especially with eco-activists. As a result of the discussion, 17 roadmaps were developed. They include 485 events,” said the ministry representative.