The Power of Engineering

Welcoming the guests of Pavlodar, Bulat Bakauov noted that holding such a forum is an urgent need for the region, because 100% of untreated aluminium and aluminium oxide produced in the republic falls on Irtysh Land.

 “The consumption of aluminium requires the expansion of the scale of deep processing, while we still have a raw material orientation,” – he said. – “80% of Kazakhstan aluminium is exported. We buy aluminium products with high added cost, much higher than the price of primary aluminium. Today, Kazakhstan imports more than 200 thousand tons of aluminium products, which indicates the need for import substitution through the development of an aluminium cluster in the region. We have all the prerequisites to create a cluster. The presence of our own raw materials and developed energy system allows us to create energy-intensive enterprises. The creation of an aluminium cluster is an assignment of the Head of State, which is supported at the level of the Government and central government agencies.”

The Head of the National Academy of Engineering Bakytzhan Zhumagulov noted that in state programs for the development of the metallurgical industry, which is 65.9% of the processing industry, all conditions have been created in Pavlodar Oblast. First, more than 800 enterprises are concentrated in the region, including such large enterprises as the Kazakhstan Aluminium Smelter, Aluminium Kazakhstan, JSC, Aksu Ferroalloy Plant, Pavlodar Oil Chemistry Refinery and others. Secondly, Pavlodar has its own free economic zone, where enterprises of the aluminium cluster are already operating. Therefore, Kazakhstani scientists possessing technologies in this field can bring practical benefits by sharing their technologies with professional practitioners and becoming their effective partners.

The meeting was also attended by major scientists and leading engineers of the country: Askar Kulibayev, Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov, Rakhman Alshanov, Nadir Nadirov, Marat Bitimbayev and others. All the speakers noted that today production is experiencing a shortage of engineering personnel in the manufacturing industry, the lack of modern technologies at factories and the effective interaction of science with production. There were also voiced other problems in the industry.

At the end of the meeting, Pavlodar Oblast Akim Bulat Bakauov and the Head of NAE signed a memorandum of cooperation. In addition, on behalf of the Academy, Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov presented Bulat Bakauov with the “Engineering Glory” medal. Also, the awards of the National Academy of Engineering were awarded to well-known Irtysh Land engineers.