In the village of Bulandy, Birzhan Sal district in the Akmola region, construction of a school has been completed after nearly four years. The cost of the 80-place facility rose from the original 673 million to over 1 billion tenge.
According to the Telegram channel «HALYQSTAN», the need for a new educational institution arose in 2019, when the building of the old school, built in 1989, was declared unsafe. It is noted that until the start of the third term of the current academic year, students were forced to study in the offices of the local forestry enterprise in multiple shifts.
As reported, in spring 2021, the Department of Construction, Urban Planning and Architecture of the Akmola region announced an open tender for the construction of the school. The tender was won by LLP «SK «Yer-Kanat Service», which committed to completing the project in 2022.
It transpired that the same company had won tenders in 2021 to build schools in the village of Petrovka, Sandyktau district, and the village of Zhanazhol, Tselinograd district, which also became long-term construction projects.
«The contract with LLP «Yer-Kanat Service» was terminated back in July last year. A claim has been filed to recover penalties from them and to have them declared an unfair participant in public procurement. Without waiting for the court proceedings to conclude, a new tender was announced. In the village of Bulandy, the school is finished, and by 1 February of this year, schools in the villages of Petrovka and Zhanazhol will be handed over», commented the deputy head of the Department of Construction, Architecture and Urban Planning of the Akmola region, Niyaz Baigozhin.
For context, in early September last year, it was reported that in the village of Novonezhinka, Auliekol district of the Kostanay region, schoolchildren were forced to study in a semi-renovated building. Only four classrooms were operational at the school, where lessons took place for middle school students. Senior pupils were taught in the local wrestling hall, and first-graders in the kindergarten.
The day after the media publication, it was reported that a wall had collapsed at Novonezhinka School. According to the akimat, there were no children or staff in the school at the time, and no one was injured.
Also in September, it became known that children from the village of Aktogan, Merki district of the Zhambyl region were forced to study in the House of Culture due to the unfinished construction of a school. At the time, the school director stated that the management had to take this step out of desperation.
In December, it was reported that the construction of a school in the town of Kandyagash in the Aktobe region had dragged on for 4 years. According to the plan, the educational institution was supposed to open in 2021, but the walls of the building are still unfinished.