In 2021, the Transport and Highways Department of Kosshy published an open tender for the procurement of services for the installation and maintenance of road infrastructure.
Specifically, this involved ensuring the operation of the city's traffic lights. At that time, Kosshy had only 7 traffic lights in operation.
This small number is because, in 2021, Kosshy was in the process of transitioning from a village to a city.
For the same reason, there was a problem organising traffic flows at the city's key exits and interchanges, making the installation of traffic lights a priority.
But let's return to the contract.
According to the technical specifications, its term lasted until 31 December 2022, and the cost of services was approximately 1.4 million tenge.
In July 2022, the city akimat decided to hold the next tender for the provision of similar services.
This time, however, the supplier had to service not 7, but 8 traffic light installations: a new traffic light appeared on Abaya Street.
The technical specification added mentions of "emergency restoration work and work on the customer's instructions".
Interestingly, this contract retained the same service period – until 31 December 2022. However, the cost of services changed, amounting to over 30 million tenge.
In 2023, the akimat again entered into a contract for the procurement of services for the installation and maintenance of road infrastructure – until 31 December 2023.
The technical specification included a more detailed description of the required services, including elements of staff clothing, a description of the objective – "ensuring road safety", the names of traffic light junctions, etc.
An important addition, however, was a condition requiring the supplier to enter into an agreement with telecom providers to manage traffic lights that had built-in communication facilities.
The number of traffic lights remained unchanged – 8 installations.
But the cost of services continued to rise, reaching over 263 million tenge in 2023.
This year, the akimat of Kosshy has entered into a similar contract for servicing 12 traffic lights until the end of 2024.
The contract cost the local budget approximately 595 million tenge.
If we calculate the approximate cost of maintaining one traffic light installation over three years, the picture is as follows:
- 2021 - number: 7 installations - 192,857 tenge/installation;
- 2022 - number: 8 installations - 3,811,185 tenge/installation;
- 2023 - number: 8 installations - 32,933,125 tenge/installation;
- 2024 - number: 12 installations - 49,572,832 tenge/installation.
Of course, this calculation cannot be called entirely accurate, as the contracts specify some other services besides traffic light maintenance, such as inspection of cable routes, "checking transport facilities", etc.
Nevertheless, this approach makes it possible to clearly see the multiple increase in expenditure from year to year.
It is difficult to imagine what could justify such a sharp rise in the contract price. After all, the increase in the number of traffic lights clearly does not correspond to the proportionate increase in the cost of services.
Especially considering that the supplier for all four contracts mentioned above is the same company – SMEU Astana LLP.
The company "SMEU Astana" specialises in the construction of roads and highways.
The first director and one of the founders of the company is Mona Osmanova, and the other founders are GIG Global Integration Group GmbH LLC, Maxim Utepov and Galina Sartina.
"SMEU Astana" LLP appears in numerous civil cases. In particular, some of them are related to the recovery of debts from suppliers.
For example, in 2017, "SMEU Astana" LLP sued two companies in the capital, seeking to recover debts under contracts for the installation of equipment at traffic light installations in Astana city. In both cases, the court ruled in favour of "SMEU Astana" LLP.
In 2022, the company featured in a report by the "Atameken Business" TV channel about the inefficient spending of budget funds amounting to 9.5 billion tenge, allocated in 2021 for the expansion of the capital's intelligent transport system.
At that time, "SMEU Astana" LLP filed a lawsuit, claiming that the report damaged the company's reputation, and insisted on a public refutation. However, the court dismissed the claim.
But let's return to the traffic lights in Kosshy.
Given that the supplier has not changed in three years and the main technical requirements have remained the same, how can such a sharp increase in cost be explained?
Perhaps the expenditure is justified after all, as ensuring road safety requires significant investment.
For instance, the akimat of Kokshetau city spent around 358 million tenge this year on maintaining "road furnishing elements".
However, the contract in question covered not only the maintenance of traffic lights, but also road signs, signals, guide devices, etc.
Furthermore, the contract is for more than 2 years – until 31 December 2026. And the number of traffic lights maintained under the contract totals 140 installations.
In Temirtau city, a similar contract was concluded this year for a sum of over 49 million tenge. The agreement includes, among other things, the maintenance of 35 traffic lights.
Incidentally, the supplier for the two aforementioned contracts is SpetsTraidTM LLP, about which the editorial board of FBRK recently wrote. At that time, we reported on several road safety contracts that the akimat of Almaty city concluded with the company "SpetsTraidTM".
The sharp increase in traffic light maintenance costs in Kosshy city over such a short period inevitably raises certain questions. Especially when comparing Kosshy's expenditure with the already mentioned expenditure of Kokshetau and Temirtau on similar services.
An increase in expenditure from 1.4 million tenge to 595 million tenge with a relatively small number of traffic lights makes one wonder how justified such spending is.
Furthermore, in a situation where the same contractor handles all contracts, one cannot help but think about the need for thorough analysis and control of expenditure.
The editorial board of FBRK has sent an official request to the akimat of Kosshy city in the hope of finding out the reasons for the increase in contract costs.
To be continued…