ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 8. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called for a systemic approach to water management, instructing the government to develop a unified digital platform for water resources as part of the country’s national digital transformation, Trend reports.
“One of the main factors of social stability, sustainable economic development, and national security is solving problems in the water sector,” Tokayev said. He noted that recent years have seen institutional progress: “In the past two years, we have formed the institutional framework for this. In particular, the Water Code was adopted and a sectoral ministry was established. The ministry faces large-scale tasks that must be addressed not occasionally, but systematically, through comprehensive work.”
The president stressed the urgency of modernizing the sector. “At present, the relevant authorities have no accurate data on the available volume of water resources. Losses in some canals reach 50–60%. Accounting technologies are hopelessly outdated, and water intake points are not equipped with modern instruments,” he said.
Tokayev tasked the government with the creation of a new digital system. “A unified digital platform for water resources should be created, which, based on artificial intelligence, will integrate data on surface and underground waters. The launch of the platform will make it possible to fully address the task of hydrogeological monitoring,” he explained.
The initiative will also include the development of a long-term water balance. “This work should be accompanied by the formation of the National Water Balance—an essential tool for long-term water policy planning. Without all this, it will be impossible to establish proper control in the sector or to attract the necessary investments,” the president explained.