ALMATY, Kazakhstan, June 27. Around 57% of public-private partnership (PPP) agreements in Kazakhstan are related to the education sector, Aidos Kobetov, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and Board Member of the Kazakhstan Public-Private Partnership Center JSC told Trend.
He made the remark on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting and Business Forum of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) in Almaty.
“As of today, around 1,300 PPP agreements have been concluded. About 57% of them are in the education sector, including kindergartens, schools and other areas. The healthcare sector ranks second, accounting for 18%. At the same time, specifically in healthcare, 6.7 million people have already received services at healthcare facilities created through PPP projects,” he said.
Kobetov noted that public-private partnerships have been developing in Kazakhstan for around 20 years. According to him, the starting point was the adoption of the Concessions Law in 2006.
“Compared with other Central Asian countries and Russian regions, the PPP mechanism in Kazakhstan is quite well developed. As I noted during the session, on the one hand, we are very interested in studying the experience of other countries, while on the other hand, we take a very cautious approach to introducing new contracts that involve significant government obligations,” he said.
According to Kobetov, the Kazakhstan Public-Private Partnership Center is improving the legislative framework while maintaining a cautious approach to taking on new state commitments.
He also noted that since last year the center has been systematically expanding cooperation with international financial institutions.
“Previously, we mainly had individual projects. For example, the Big Almaty Ring Road (BAKAD) project, projects implemented jointly with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, as well as the Karaganda hospital project, which was launched with support from the Asian Development Bank. Now we have taken a more systematic approach. Since last year, we have developed a project pipeline,” he said.
According to Kobetov, the pipeline currently includes seven projects, each of which has been assigned to a specific international financial institution.
“Each of these projects is supported by a specific international financial institution. For example, the Asian Development Bank is supporting five projects: four in the higher education and healthcare sectors and one in the road sector. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is supporting a project in Western Kazakhstan involving the construction of a desalination plant. Another project is being implemented jointly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development — a university clinic in Almaty,” Kobetov said.
