60 budget investment projects have not been implemented in the Abai region due to poor-quality of  design and estimate documentation and lack of measures on the part of the Akimat – the SAC of the RoK

60 budget investment projects have not been implemented in the Abai region due to poor-quality of  design and estimate documentation and lack of measures on the part of the Akimat – the SAC of the RoK

Chairman of the Supreme Audit Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting to review the results of the state performance audit on the use of budgetary funds and assets in the Abai region for 2022-2023.

The volume of investments in fixed assets in the region in 2023 exceeded 568 billion tenge, being increased to 37.2% compared to 2022. The level of agricultural production increased by 46.7 billion tenge, or 10.6%, over the same period. In general, 78.5 billion tenge of investments were invested in the agro-industrial complex, which is almost twice the level of 2022.

Despite the positive results in certain industries, the state audit revealed a number of systemic shortcomings and violations. Thus, the lack of effective measures on the part of local executive bodies of the region, poor-quality development of design and estimate documentation and litigation with contractors led to the fact that 60 budget investment projects out of 218 were not put into operation. These include housing construction, heat, electricity and water supply projects.

Numerous facts of unjustified payments to contractors for unfulfilled volumes of work at 28 construction sites and repair of buildings of government agencies in the amount of over 2 billion tenge have been revealed.

In 2023, the Department of Passenger Transport of the city of Semey admitted the fact of unjustified payment of subsidies to carriers in the amount of 1.3 billion tenge due to incorrect determination of tariffs for urban and suburban public transport routes.

Despite the significant amount of funds allocated for the development of transport infrastructure (36.9 billion tenge, taking into account targeted current transfers), there is a decrease in the share of roads of regional and district significance in good and satisfactory condition – from 81.9% to 78.7%.

The low efficiency of JSC SEC Semey is also noted. The Regional Stabilization Fund has not been fully formed. In fact, out of 19 approved types of socially significant foodstuffs, only 8 types were purchased for 1.2 billion tenge. Moreover, some of them are overpriced (by 17.2 million tenge). At the same time, of the 2 billion tenge allocated for the formation of the stabilization fund, 646 million tenge was not used for its intended purpose, and another 55 million were not disbursed. This has a negative impact on the food security of the region.

In general, according to the results of the audit the following was revealed:

  • financial violations in the amount of 9.9 billion tenge;
  • inefficient budget planning for 1.9 billion tenge;
  • inefficient use of assets by KZT 57.3 billion;
  • 687 procedural violations and 18 systemic deficiencies.

According to 238 facts, the materials were transferred to the authorized bodies to initiate administrative proceedings.

To eliminate the identified violations and prevent them in the future, the Supreme Audit Chamber gave recommendations and instructions to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministries of Finance and Energy, the Akim of the Abai region, the Akim of Semey city, JSC SEC Semey, etc.

Akim of the region Nurlan Urankhaev, First Deputy Akim Shalkar Baibekov and Chairman of JSC SEC Semey Abai Amangeldin made comments on the audit report at the meeting. The Akimat also provided comments on measures for the reconstruction of the boiler houses "Center" and "Gabbasova" in the city of Semey and to reduce the high wear of engineering networks.