In September 2024, an audit was conducted to assess compliance with legislation in the use of budgetary funds allocated for the development of engineering, transport, and social infrastructure in the Karkaraly district of the Karaganda region.
The audit covered key infrastructure projects, including:
- Construction of the "Zharly-Karkaralinsk" group water pipeline;
- Construction of engineering and communication infrastructure (ECI) for two 36-apartment buildings on V. Rey Street, which began in 2021.
The customer for the construction of both projects is the State Institution “Department of Construction, Architecture, and Urban Planning of the Karkaralinsk District.”
After adjustments, the total estimated cost of the project “Construction of the Zharly-Karkaralinsk group water pipeline” amounted to KZT 3.3 billion, of which KZT 408 million was financed in 2024 under budget program 085 “Implementation of budget investment projects in small and single-industry towns.”
The main violations identified during the audit were as follows:
- the performance guarantee under Additional Agreement No. 8 dated 01.02.2024 was provided late by the contractor, LLP "SAPA QURYLYS 2007", which constitutes a violation of public procurement terms;
- funds were transferred to the contractor without supporting work completion certificates (Form No. 2) from the Karkaraly District Construction Department, violating financial control requirements and posing legal risks regarding the expenditure;
- lack of reporting on local content for the period 2022–2024 totaling over 2.57 billion tenge, making it difficult to assess the efficiency of local resource usage and support for domestic production.
Violations were also identified in the implementation of the project for completing engineering networks for two 36-apartment buildings on V. Rey Street, implemented under budget program 004 "Construction of New Facilities and Reconstruction of Existing Facilities."
The contractor for this construction was LLP "Stroysiti-2030." The estimated cost was 88.5 million tenge, of which 34.4 million tenge was financed in 2024.
The audit revealed that the customer failed to withhold the mandatory 5% reserve on the work completion certificates, resulting in an unjustified increase in accounts payable to the contractor in the amount of 864.2 thousand tenge.
The audit also covered the project for the reconstruction and landscaping of the area surrounding the dam in the city of Karkaralinsk, funded under budget program 085 "Implementation of Budget Investment Projects in Small and Single-Industry Towns."
The customer for this project was the State Institution “Department of Housing and Utilities, Passenger Transport and Motorways of the Karkaraly District.”
The total budget for the project was 473 million tenge, including 52.6 million tenge allocated in 2024.
During the audit, the following violations related to the contractor, "Gimarat KZ" LLP, were identified: the construction contract dated May 25, 2023, No. 30, in the amount of 478,688,000 tenge, does not include the mandatory warranty period for the operation of the facility; an advance payment of 136 million tenge was made by the customer to the contractor with a delay of 5 days; the advance payment reserve in the amount of 31.3 million tenge was returned to the contractor before the completion of all works and the signing of the acceptance certificates.
In addition, based on the results of reconciliation of the actual volume of construction and installation work performed with the data reflected in the certificates of work performed (Form No. 2), an unjustified payment in the amount of 8.9 million tenge was identified for work that was not actually performed.
Thus, based on the results of the audits, the amounts of the established financial violations were ordered to be returned to the state budget.