This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 000560 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TASHKENT FOR EPUTNAM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON SENV ENRG EPET KZ ECONOMIC
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN ENVIRONMENT UPDATE, JANUARY 31, 2006 
 
¶1. Summary:  This information is drawn primarily from the 
Kazakhstani press and has not yet been verified.  The 
opinions expressed in this report, therefore, should not be 
interpreted as official positions and/or policy of the U.S. 
Government. 
 
-- GOK Appropriates over 60 Million Tenge for Bird Flu Treatment 
-- New Minister of the Environment Appointed 
-- Number of People Infected with HIV and AIDS Continues to Grow 
-- Mangystau Oblast Plans to Build a Repository for Radioactive 
Wastes 
-- Oil spill into the Caspian Sea at the Port of Aktau 
-- Kazakhstan Must Develop its Renewable Energy Sources 
-- New Plans to Build a Nuclear Power Station in Kazakhstan 
-- First Communications Satellite to be Launched by June 20 
-- Many Lives Lost due to Severe Weather 
-- Violations Have Been Revealed in the "Drinking Water" program 
in RK 
 
 
GOK Appropriates over 60 Million Tenge for Bird Flu Treatment 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶2. The Kazakhstani government has appropriated more than 60 
million tenge to procure a medicinal treatment of the bird 
flu, the Deputy Chief State Health Inspector of Kazakhstan 
and Sanitary & Epidemiological Service's Chief Physician 
Kenes Ospanov said. "The Swiss medicine Tamiflu has 
demonstrated its efficiency in treating people infected with 
the bird flu," he said at a January 17 press conference in 
Almaty.  He stressed that the medicine would not be freely 
sold because of the risk of people "buying it up just in 
case and filling their personal stocks," leaving the 
medicine in short supply for the infected.  Ospanov also 
announced that Kazakhstan intends to buy bird flu vaccines 
abroad in the future. Meanwhile, Kazakhstani scientists at 
the Agriculture Research Institute, part of the National 
Biotechnology Center, are developing a vaccine against the 
bird flu. The vaccine will be "very effective" in the fight 
against the spread of the avian flu among birds. Scientists 
have not yet specified the completion date of the vaccine as 
no funds have been received from the state. (Interfax- 
Kazakhstan, January 16, 17, 2006) 
 
 
New Minister of the Environment Appointed 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. On January 19, President Nazarbayev signed a decree appointing 
ex-governor of the Karaganda Oblast, Kamaltin 
Mukhamedzhanov, as the environmental protection minister. 
Mukhamedzhanov, 57, graduated from the Ust-Kamenogorsk Road 
Construction Institute and the Russian State Service Academy 
under the Russian Federation President, DSc, and holds 
degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering economy. 
(Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 19, 2006) 
 
 
Number of People Infected with HIV and AIDS Continues to Grow 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶4. As of November 2005, 846 cases of HIV infection were reported 
compared to 633 during the same period of 2004.  Between 
January and November 2005, 93 new AIDS cases were reported 
compared with 68 during the same period in 2004.  In 
November 2005, 101 new HIV cases were registered as compared 
with 54 in 2004.  In Kazakhstan, a country of 15.1 million, 
4696 HIV infected people were registered as of January 1, 
2005, and 5440 as of late November 2005, including 313 AIDS 
cases. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 12, 2005) 
 
Mangystau Oblast Plans Repository for Radioactive Wastes 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶5. Mangystau Oblast plans to build a regional repository for low- 
level and average-level radioactive wastes in 2008. The 
development of the feasibility study has been scheduled for 
2007, while the construction is tentatively scheduled for 
¶2008. According to Orynbasar Togzhanov, Deputy Head of the 
Mangystau Oblast Administration for Managing Natural 
Resources, this repository will store unclaimed radioactive 
wastes around Aktau.  Togzhanov added that the oblast has 
concluded a contract on the depository construction with the 
Institute of Nuclear Physics and the National Nuclear Center 
of Kazakhstan. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 12, 2005) 
 
Oil Spill into the Caspian Sea at the Port of Aktau 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. Approximately one ton of oil spilled into the Caspian Sea at 
the port of Aktau on January 6. The incident occurred while 
loading the Lenkoran tanker (Baku, Azerbaijan), as reported 
by the Kazakhstani Emergency Situations Ministry.  According 
to Yklas Nogayev, Head of the Mangystau Oblast 
Administration for Managing Natural Resources, the damage 
inflicted to the environment totaled 1.5 million tenge. "The 
site of the incident has been enclosed by booms and measures 
to mop up the oil have been taken," he said. On January 18, 
the Mangystau oblast territorial administration for 
environment protection announced that the loading operator 
"Artic Overseas S.A. Kazakhstan" LLP and the crew of the 
Lenkoran were responsible for the oil spill by overfilling 
tank #12.  The total damage is estimated at 834,565 tenge. 
The Administration has sent a protocol-claim to defaulters 
to compensate for the damage. (Interfax-Kazakhstan, Jan. 6, 
Earthwire Kazakhstan, Jan. 7, Panorama, Jan. 13, Interfax- 
Kazakhstan, Jan. 18, 2006) 
 
Kazakhstan Must Develop Its Renewable Energy Sources 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶7. As a result of heightened interest in renewable energy sources 
(RES), the world consumption of sun and wind powered RES has 
grown by 25%-30% between 1984 and 2005.  Annual investments 
during this period totaled 10%.  Despite having enormous 
potential for wind energy development (3 TW a year) and 
ranking first worldwide in wind energy resources per capita 
according to "Kazselenergoproekt" SRI, there is only one 
small 500 kW wind assembly unit in Kazakhstan.  The unit was 
built recently by the "Almatyavtomatika" company.  However, 
there are about 15 perspective sites for big wind power 
stations in Kazakhstan, including Dzungarian Gates and 
Shelek corridor in the Almaty oblast.  Kazakhstan's vast 
territory, remoteness of many settlements from power 
sources, cost of power transportation and environmental 
safety issues also attest to the need to develop renewable 
energy sources. To develop this sector, a number of state 
programs and GOK resolutions have been adopted, such as: 
    "On Measures to Implement Energy Saving Policy in the 
RK," 
     A law "On Conserving Energy," 
    "On The Program of Developing Electric Energy up to 
2030" 
    "On the Development of Wind Energy" 
 
At the end of the last year, a bid for the construction of a 5MW 
5MW 
pilot wind power station at Dzungarian Gates was won by ALD- 
Consulting LLP, although Japanese Tohoki Electric Power Do 
Inc. also plans to participate in the project. As the 
project is risky due to a lack of normative acts, the EBRD 
and National Innovation Fund also intend to participate in 
the project.  ("Development of alternative sources of energy 
in the world" by Erkebulan Orazaliev in "Kazakhstan in 
Global Processes, No. 4, 2005; Panorama, January 20, 2006; 
Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, January 27, 2006. ) 
 
New Plans to Build a Nuclear Power Station in Kazakhstan 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶8. Kazakhstani Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov has stressed the 
need to build a nuclear power station in the country. 
"The Energy [and Mineral Resources] Ministry's most 
serious task is to prepare the feasibility study on the 
construction of an atomic station in Kazakhstan," the 
prime minister said, speaking at a government meeting in 
Astana. "The postponement of this process is one of the 
problems that will hamper industrial and innovation 
development," he stressed. In connection with this, 
Akhmetov instructed the Energy and Mineral Resources 
Ministry "to set up a working group to study the problem 
and submit proposals within the first quarter of this 
year." (The Times of Central Asia, January 25, 2005) 
 
First Communications Satellite to Be Launched by June 20 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶9. The launch of the first Kazakhstani satellite Kazsat should 
take place before June 20, said the Head of the Space 
Communications Complex Department Alexander Martynov.  He 
also announced that they were considering all possibilities 
to launch the satellite earlier. Answering jounalists' 
questions, he mentioned that they did not think they had 
disrupted the launch schedule. "The contract on Kazsat does 
not exclude the possibility of delaying the launch," he 
added. According to the PM D. Akhmetov, Kazakhstan intends 
to launch three satellites in the next 24-30 months, 
including a second geostationary land remote-sensing 
satellite and a telecom satellite. By 2012, according to 
Head of Kazkosmos Company Serik Turzhanov, Kazakhstan plans 
to create four telecom satellites, four land remote-sensing 
satellites and several satellites for the global navigation 
system (Interfax-Kazakhstan, January 25-26, 2006). 
 
Many Lives Lost Due to Severe Weather 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. Severe frosts in Kazakhstan beginning the second week of 
January caused numerous problems and even resulted in 
several deaths. As a result of avalanches in the mountains, 
two people died in Almaty and one woman in the Fabrichnoye 
settlement. Seven people died from frostbite in Kostanai 
oblast, while 15 people were frostbitten in Astana. Ten 
people suffered hypothermia effects in Petropavlovsk and 
another ten in Pavlodar, some of which had their legs 
amputated. Both the "Tulpar" train from Astana to Almaty and 
a bus with 40 passengers traveling from Almaty to Urdzhar 
were evacuated midway into their routes by road police and 
employees of the Emergency Situations Service.  (Interfax- 
Kazakhstan, January 19-31, 2006). 
 
 
Violations Discovered in the "Drinking Water" Program 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶11. Despite the fact that the first stage of the program "Drinking 
Water" for 2002-2005 has been completed, the water supply 
system in rural areas continues to decay. As a result, the 
General Procurator's Office took an interest in the program 
implementation by investigating its progress in the Pavlodar 
oblast. The investigation showed that 10 million tenge of 
state money had been misused. Specifically, in the villages 
of Mikhailovka and Alakol acceptance certificates read that 
the Contractor had been paid 24 million tenge, though the 
actual cost of performed work did not exceed 13.5 million 
tenge. Additionally, the "new" water supply systems do not 
work.  Officials from the Committee for Water Resources 
signed these certificates, inflicting financial damage 
totaling eight million tenge. Similar violations have been 
revealed in the Akmola oblast by the contractor 
"Astanaavtostroy." The General Procurator's Office stated 
that the Department for Economic Crimes and Corruption 
initiated proceedings against the Director of 
"Astanaavtostroy." Additionaly, the damage in Akmola oblast 
totaled 12 million tenge. (Izvestiya, January 24, 2006) 
 
ORDWAY