Development master plans adopted for 20 single-industry towns in Kazakhstan

ASTANA. September 10. KAZINFORM - In accordance with the first direction of the program on development of single-industry towns, providing for optimization of single-industry towns depending on the production capacity of stable operating companies, there were developed and adopted development master plans, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development Kairbek Uskenbayev told a meeting of the Government of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, the web-site of the Prime Minister informs.

"Master plans have been adopted for 20 towns, including Temirtau and Abay, for which master plans were adopted in the first quarter of this year," Uskenbayev said.

He noted the need to adjust master plans with the purpose of development and modernization of social and engineering and utility infrastructure, taking into account the predicted optimum population.

The program on development of single-industry towns, developed on the instruction of the Head of State, was launched on January 1 this year. It aims at solving the existing socio-economic problems of single-industry towns and identifying promising directions for their further development, taking into account the labor and economic potential, as well as natural advantages.

At present, there are 27 single-industry towns in Kazakhstan with total population of 1.53 million people, or 16.8 % of the country’s urban population.

Of these, 16 towns are administrative centers of their districts, 11 towns are not centers of districts (Stepnogorsk, Tekeli, Serebryansk, Kurchatov, Shahtinsk, Saran, Karazhal, Lissakovsk, Arkalyk, Aksu, Zhanaozen).

The list of single-industry towns of Kazakhstan consists mainly of small towns with a population of 50 thousand people, with the exception of four medium-sized cities with a population of over 100 thousand people – Temirtau, Rudny, Zhanaozen, Ekibastuz.