JSC «Әскери құрылыс» has put up for auction property and inventory that once belonged to military-strategic facilities, with a total value of more than 1 billion tenge. The editorial team of FBRC decided to find out the details of the auction.
The notoriously controversial JSC «Әскери құрылыс», whose sole shareholder is the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, specialises in the construction of residential buildings.
Since 2013, the company has come to the attention of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) six times for various violations, and in 2023 it was involved in more than 350 court cases.
This time, «Әскери құрылыс» is acting as the seller of a command and computing centre (6,694.5 sqm), a radar centre (10,011.8 sqm), a shelter for the 2PA antenna device (with a total area of 14,203.8 sqm), and inventory totalling 2,876 items.
The starting price for the lot is approximately 3 billion tenge, and the auction is being conducted on a descending basis. The total estimated value, according to an appraisal dated 9 October 2023, was more than 1 billion tenge. The deadline for submitting applications is 9 April.
The technological structures and other goods presented in the auction are located on the shore of Lake Balkhash near the village of Tasaral in the Aktogay District of Karaganda Region. Based on the map provided in the documentation for the lot, the facilities are part of the «Balkhash» node.
«Balkhash» was once used for space observations, combining four «Dnestr» radar stations, which began operating in the 1960s not far from the famous military testing ground Sary-Shagan. In the early 1970s, an additional «Dnepr» radar station was brought into service.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the only remaining operational «Dnepr» radar station was controlled by the Russian Federation. However, on 16 December 2023, the agreement on the procedure for using the Kazakh «Balkhash» node in the Russian missile attack warning system, signed in Moscow on 2 December 2014, was terminated.
The reason for this decision was the dilapidation of the station, which had long failed to meet modern requirements.
Among the other documents presented in the lot is a delivery note listing the inventory of the «Dnepr» facility as of 22 December 2023.
The document also specifies the supplier as Military Unit 53898 of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the buyer as JSC «Әскери құрылыс».
It appears that after Russia abandoned the use of the «Dnepr» radar station, it probably came under the wing of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and later the radar station was bought out by JSC «Әскери құрылыс», which is controlled by the military department.
Now the joint-stock company intends to sell this very station. By the way, no special requirements are imposed on the buyer.
The problem here, perhaps, is not so much the fact of selling an already abandoned station, but rather the attitude of the state towards such facilities.
Indeed, why invest in restoring a space observation facility when you can invest in a comfortable existence for JSC «NC «Qazaqstan Gharysh Sapary»?
The latter, however, is not particularly effective, which is clearly evident from the current flood situation in the country. And despite this, over 2023-2024 the state spent more than 1.4 billion tenge on questionable monitoring services from JSC «NC «QGS».