The transport ministry's bill with amendments concerning road transportation, which could lead to taxi price increases, was discussed at the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs 'Atameken'.
According to Inbusiness.kz, the new regulations will require the passenger transport industry to adopt self-regulation and unite carriers within a new private structure. It has emerged that the bill was introduced to the Majilis of the Parliament back in July 2023.
"The essence of the bill is that all passenger carriers must now unite on the principles of self-regulation (SROs). The state will thus reduce its control over the industry, transferring some functions to the private sector. SROs will be created in the form of chambers of motor carriers, which will have a wide range of rights, including monitoring the health of drivers and their vehicles", the statement says.
In October, Transport Minister Marat Karabayev described the bill in detail. He stated that SRO chambers would be able to track the work of each of their drivers, and that carriers would operate under conditions of fair competition.
Furthermore, it is expected that SROs will enable the faster adoption of quality standards and rules, as well as reduce bureaucracy and cut corruption risks.
"In total, in Kazakhstan, 61 carriers handle international transport, 189 handle interregional transport, 625 handle irregular transport, and 2,833 handle taxi services. All of them will be required to join an SRO. This will also affect taxi information and dispatch services, taxi booking mobile applications, bus stations, bus stops, and passenger service points", the statement says.
It is noted that the law provides for the creation of three chambers of motor carriers, participation in which will be based on membership fees.
In turn, Majilis deputy Askhat Aimagambetov criticised the bill, stating that the proposed mandatory membership fees would increase the cost of taxis and transportation.
"Preliminary calculations show that we are talking about billions of tenge (by some estimates, even more than 10 billion tenge). It is obvious that these fees will effectively become an additional burden on the pocket of the ordinary citizen", the deputy stated.
It is reported that registration of an SRO requires the presence of 20 carriers of regular international transport, 50 carriers of regular intercity and interregional transport, 100 carriers of irregular transport, and 200 taxi carriers. Each carrier has the right to belong to only one of the chambers.
If a chamber provides inaccurate information to the Ministry of Transport or if the submitted documents do not meet the requirements, the chamber may be removed from the state register.
Despite the criticism, the bill has passed its first reading, and its fate will become clearer shortly after the second reading.