Nursultan Nazarbayev. Photo by Marat Abilov©
Lands of former Semipalatinsk buclear test site are rich with mineral resources that can be used, Tengrinews.kz quotes Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying. “I am getting reports that the territory of the testing site can already be put to use. There are 1.5 million hectares of lands. Scientists, both Kazakhstan and Russian, say that there is no radiation there and the lands can be used. There are subsoil riches at the territory as well, it is one of the richest territories. Let’s make them part of our economy again and use them to our advantage,” the President said. The President commented on the disputed issue of Semey city having no Oblast City status. “People lose nothing, it is only a matter of portfolios for officials. (Oblast City status) would require one more administration (to govern the oblast), one more prosecutor and one more financial police to be based in the city. Is that what you want? What matters is that life conditions are good. We all live in the same country. There was a time when I reduced the number of regions from 230 to 70. That meat cutting 25 thousand officials. It was back in 1994, when we had no money to pay pensions. I gave the money that we saved (by cutting the number of officials) to the pensioners. And we felt no discomfort when the number of oblasts was reduced from 19 to 16 either. And nothing happened either. Now these are officials who lost their portfolios talking. Al the rest of the people just need a peaceful life: they need to have a job, make money, raise their children and face the future with confidence,” Nazarbayev said. As one of the region's development programs President mentioned construction of an autobahn between Pavlodar, Semey and Ust-Kamenogorsk.
Lands of former Semipalatinsk buclear test site are rich with mineral resources that can be used, Tengrinews.kz quotes Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying.
“I am getting reports that the territory of the testing site can already be put to use. There are 1.5 million hectares of lands. Scientists, both Kazakhstan and Russian, say that there is no radiation there and the lands can be used. There are subsoil riches at the territory as well, it is one of the richest territories. Let’s make them part of our economy again and use them to our advantage,” the President said.
The President commented on the disputed issue of Semey city having no Oblast City status. “People lose nothing, it is only a matter of portfolios for officials. (Oblast City status) would require one more administration (to govern the oblast), one more prosecutor and one more financial police to be based in the city. Is that what you want? What matters is that life conditions are good. We all live in the same country. There was a time when I reduced the number of regions from 230 to 70. That meat cutting 25 thousand officials. It was back in 1994, when we had no money to pay pensions. I gave the money that we saved (by cutting the number of officials) to the pensioners. And we felt no discomfort when the number of oblasts was reduced from 19 to 16 either. And nothing happened either. Now these are officials who lost their portfolios talking. Al the rest of the people just need a peaceful life: they need to have a job, make money, raise their children and face the future with confidence,” Nazarbayev said.
As one of the region's development programs President mentioned construction of an autobahn between Pavlodar, Semey and Ust-Kamenogorsk.