An Aktobe community activist Murat Zhakiev is trying to hold companies accountable that have been polluting the city's environment for many years.
According to Ratel.kz, Zhakiev stated that these companies pay the state extremely little money for harmful emissions and the storage of hazardous substances.
“The Kazakh Tax Code has Article 576, which is called ‘Payment Rates’. This is used to calculate payment for emissions of harmful substances into the environment. And specifically for the storage and disposal of production waste of categories 1-2. In our region, such facilities include the enterprises of ‘Kazchrome’, the Aktobe Plant of Chromium Compounds (APCC), and oil developments. These payment rates are calculated based on the MCI. So, this rate for such enterprises is 0.019% of the MCI per 1 tonne of waste!” - the activist writes.
The eco-activist addressed a question to the Ministry of Finance asking why such paltry rates for polluting nature had been set. The department forwarded Zhakiev's request to the Ministry of Ecology, where they replied that such rates were established back in 2007. However, the ecologists could not answer why they had not been reviewed.
“It’s no wonder it’s more profitable for polluting enterprises to simply store their waste than to seek progressive environmental methods for its disposal and to care about creating a healthy ecological environment”, the statement says.
It is noted that the Ministry of Ecology could not explain why tariffs for electricity and water for the population are regularly rising in the country, while rates for enterprises for polluting nature have not changed since 2007.
“Meanwhile, the waste from these enterprises, for example, from APCC – is sodium dichromate - waste with hexavalent chromium, chromic anhydride, chromium sulfate, sodium sulphide sludge, monochrome sludge, sodium sulphide sludge. Another waste product - monochrome sludge contains hexavalent chromium. And sodium sulphide sludge, when interacting with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and humidity, forms hydrogen sulphide and the stench that regularly covers Aktobe. The ecology officials, meanwhile, say they cannot identify the source of this stench. And then there are the slags and sludges of the Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant (AFP), which are no less dangerous for health”, Zhakiev complains.
According to the regional tax committee, over the last three years, Aktobe enterprises of categories 1-2 produced 14 thousand 126 tonnes of waste, for which they paid just over 18 million tenge. On average, this works out at 131 tenge per tonne.
“Only AFP currently has about 13 million tonnes of waste. This waste has been accumulated since Soviet times. It is mainly chromospinel powder. This is ore beneficiation waste. According to the same tax data, over three years ‘Kazchrome’ produced 55 thousand 316 tonnes of waste. But ‘Kazchrome’ only paid for waste in 2021, that is almost 6 million tenge, at 110 tenge per 1 tonne. For 2022 and 2023, according to tax data, for some reason there is no payment”, the activist comments on the data from the regional tax committee.
Zhakiev established that if, for example, an enterprise produces 5 thousand tonnes of waste in a year and pays taxes on it, then the following year this weight is not taken into account when paying the tax. That is, they only pay for new waste.
“But that doesn't stop this waste from being hazardous and toxic. So, it is profitable for plants to store waste on their territory and pay, essentially, a pittance for it. With such tax regulations, the Aktobe region is becoming a dumping ground for toxic waste”, concludes Zhakiev.