The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) plans to oversee the implementation of the national project "Comfortable Schools".
"To ensure the targeted use of budget funds allocated for the implementation of the national project 'Comfortable School', the FMA held a meeting with Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC", the agency's press service reported.
It has become known that under the project, 2.3 trillion tenge was allocated for the construction of 369 schools across the country. At the same time, the FMA has already prevented excessive spending on school construction.
In turn, the Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC, Mauleen Aimanbetov, spoke about the status of the project's implementation, the stages of its digitalisation, and the work on its execution.
"Following the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed, aimed at consolidating joint efforts to prevent economic and financial violations", the statement reads.
It should be noted that the national project "Comfortable Schools" is being implemented under the instruction of the Head of State, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The project is designed for three years, from 2023 to 2025.
In 2023, 500 billion tenge was allocated for its implementation, in 2024 - 976.3 billion tenge, and in 2025 - 909.4 billion tenge. However, auditors point to insufficient funding in 2024 and 2025.
The implementation of the project was entrusted to Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC. The company was tasked with deciding in which region and how many schools to build. Samruk-Kazyna was set the goal of commissioning at least 740,000 student places by 2026. It is assumed that this will solve the problem of dilapidated schools and eliminate the practice of triple-shift schooling.
However, in May it was reported that of the 208 schools that began construction last year, only 72 had been built above the first floor, foundations had been laid for 42 schools, the base had been prepared for another 47, and only 35 facilities were completed. In addition, unresolved issues were reported regarding 12 land plots for school construction.
Recall that in October 2023, Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC was suspected of lobbying for certain manufacturers within the framework of the national project "Comfortable School". Almaty maslikhat deputy and member of the board of the "Furniture Makers' Guild of the Republic of Kazakhstan", Igor Protsenko, suggested that some furniture models in the documentation matched the product nomenclature produced by the Pavlodar-based company Troya LLP.
Later, Samruk-Kazyna Construction stated that it was not involved in the process of selecting furniture for educational institutions under the national project and reported that Igor Protsenko's statement damaged the company's reputation. The deputy, in turn, gave a comment to the FBRI editorial office, in which he refuted the arguments of Samruk-Kazyna Construction.
Even later, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" claimed that the President's instructions were being ignored in the construction of comfortable schools. The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs noted that furniture manufacturers faced difficulties due to the lack of clear technical specifications for furniture products.