Flooding situation considered by Government

The issue of passing the flood period was considered by the Coordination Headquarters on the interaction of central and local government agencies, chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

Minister for Emergency Situations Yuri Ilyin reported that despite the preventive measures taken, meltwater and floodwater flooded 163 houses and three buildings in Abay, Aktobe, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Turkestan and Pavlodar regions. Currently, 13 houses in Aktobe region remain flooded, in Atyrau region there is one inhabited house.

To eliminate the effects of flooding attracted groups of forces and means, numbering more than 3.5 thousand people, more than 500 vehicles, 300 floating and about 300 water-pumping means. Control of flooding situation is carried out by republican and regional operational headquarters with participation of emergency services and organizations.

According to the preliminary analysis, the reasons of flooding of houses in the settlements were exceeding of critical water level in the rivers, breakage of protective dikes and embankments, untimely removal of snow from private plots of citizens and insufficient capacity of culverts under the roads.

Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Marat Karabayev also spoke, and akims of Aktobe region Yeraly Tugzhanov, of Akmola region Yermek Marzhikpaev, and of North Kazakhstan region Aidarbek Saparov spoke on measures taken in regions.

Prime Minister noted that the floods problem should be solved comprehensively through implementation of the approved anti-flooding measures and the corresponding Road Map as well as effective interaction between the state agencies.

Now there is an increase in temperature in the northern regions of the country, which will intensify snow melting and lead to new risks. In this regard, Alikhan Smailov noted the need to concentrate special equipment and stockpiles of inert materials near the most dangerous areas, continue blasting operations on rivers, and determine in advance the localities, transport links with which may be interrupted.

Prime Minister added that it is necessary to intensify work on informing the population about the rules of conduct under the threat or flooding of settlements, evacuation from danger zones.

"We need to establish a clear feedback with people and immediately respond to their appeals for help," Alikhan Smailov said.

In addition, according to him, you should already start preparing for the next flood season: to bundle settlements in advance, clean culverts and irrigation structures in time, as well as to prepare drainage channels. In addition, it is necessary to check the condition of hydraulic structures, dams and dikes, in order to take measures to repair them if necessary.

"Akimats should not only restore the destroyed sections of roads, bridges, power lines, but also to analyze the situation, to provide for the possible risks of the next floods. The Ministry of Emergency Situations should add a set of measures to protect settlements from flood waters for the following years," Alikhan Smailov said.

The Prime Minister also drew attention to the issue of the heating season. He recalled that during the winter there was a difficult situation in Ekibastuz, Rudny and Ridder, where we had to manually solve emerging issues.

"Of course, the past winter period exposed the accumulated problems in the heating industry, especially on the condition of heating networks, heating plants themselves and boilers. In some areas there were problems even with the timely supply and provision of coal. This is a systematic annual work, where there should be no failures and omissions," Alikhan Smailov said.

According to him, no regular, comprehensive and objective assessment of the technical condition of equipment has been conducted in the regions. In this regard, this year the Government and the akimats were instructed to prioritize funding for appropriate projects to repair equipment and networks.

As Alikhan Smailov noted the work of energy control will be strengthened starting from this year and its staff number will be increased by 75 people and the legislative right for conduction of unscheduled inspections of energy facilities will be given.

"Repair of networks and cogeneration plants owned by municipalities must be financed by local executive bodies. Reconstruction of private networks and cogeneration plants should be funded by owners," Prime Minister pointed out.

In general, according to Head of the Government, it is necessary to tighten control over the state of utility networks and mandatory repairs, as well as to increase the responsibility of owners of power facilities by providing for it in the contracts.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Housing and Utilities

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