The FBRK editorial team regularly writes about the activities of JSC «NC «Қазақстан Ғарыш Сапары» (ҚҒС). Time and again, covering the scandals surrounding ҚҒС, we ask questions about the expediency of spending on the services of the so-called trade and space company.
After all, despite large-scale state funding, there are known instances where the national company provided the Ministry of Emergency Situations with incorrect satellite data, which seems completely unacceptable during emergencies.
Moreover, the information that ҚҒС is engaged in the reselling of satellite images from foreign suppliers, and then resells them to Kazakh state bodies, has not quite faded into oblivion so that we can easily turn a blind eye to it.
However, quite recently it became known that the Ministry of Digitalisation, together with the Ministries of Ecology, Water Resources and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, has been tasked with developing an information system by the end of the year to forecast possible emergencies.
The FBRK editorial team sent an official request to the government asking for information on which regions of the country ҚҒС's forecasts for the flood situation for 2024 were confirmed.
We also requested from the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry (MDDIAI) information on whether the national spatial data operator intends to return the funds allocated for unfulfilled flood forecasts and for fires that could not previously be predicted.
The government forwarded the request to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where we were told that the ministry does indeed use the services of the national company. However, flood forecasting is not included in this list.
We received a similar response from the MDDIAI of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where we were informed that ҚҒС promptly transmits images of risk zones upon request from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, i.e., it analyses data already at the time of the incident.
In short, «Қазақстан Ғарыш Сапары» does not engage in forecasting and there is supposedly nothing to blame them for.
True, in one of its reports, the national company spoke about a developed geoservice that not only allows forecasting the inflow of water into a reservoir, but also modelling the flooding of territories.
In addition to all this, the MDDIAI stated in its response that our estimates of state expenditure on forecasting services provided by ҚҒС for 2023-2024 are fundamentally incorrect.
Well, the sum we mentioned of 1.4 billion tenge indeed was not spent on emergency forecasts. True, we did not claim that.
The FBRK editorial team decided to "break down" the contracts that state institutions concluded with JSC «NC «ҚҒС» for the years 2023-2024.
According to data from the public procurement portal, the majority of contracts were signed between ҚҒС and the departments for emergency situations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the provision of space monitoring services in various regions of the country.
It is worth noting that in the contracts themselves, the lists of services may vary, but in essence they represent the same space monitoring or system of constant observations used for controlling the state of territories.
The monitoring system is of particular value during emergencies, so spending on it is quite justified, provided, of course, that a result is visible. In our case, however, achievements in the field of space monitoring are extremely difficult to discern, especially from the roof of a house that has gone under water.
Indeed, during the period presented, not a single contract for "forecasting" was signed. Although monitoring itself already implies analysis of data.
Incidentally, in previous years, representatives of the Aerospace Committee repeatedly stated that having the raw satellite data was not enough; it also needs to be properly analysed. So, perhaps it's time?
It is clear why the MDDIAI dismisses "forecasting" so readily, because otherwise ҚҒС would become the main subject of public discontent, given the current flood situation.
True, there is hope that the national spatial data operator will not be able to avoid responsibility for so long. After all, the 1.4 billion spent can no longer be hidden from public scrutiny, and the results, unlike satellite images, cannot be bought from foreign suppliers.
We would like to emphasise once again that the FBRK editorial team has never claimed that 1.4 billion tenge were spent on forecasting. We have always strictly adhered to the wording in the documents made available to the public of any organisation whose activities could not help but arouse our keen interest, and, hopefully, that of our readers.