Astana [Kazakhstan] January 4 : Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in an interview with Ana Tili newspaper, reflected on the government's work in 2024, highlighting infrastructure development such as the construction and repair of 7000 km of highways and the opening of new airport terminals.
This comes after Tokayev outlined an ambitious five-year development plan aimed at achieving a 'Just and Fair' Kazakhstan and doubling the size of the national economy.
"At the beginning of last year, I said in an interview that 2024 would be a defining year for Kazakhstan in many ways. So it has been. By starting systemic and even challenging economic reforms, we have laid a solid foundation for the country's five-year development. There has been a significant number of completed projects and initiatives in this direction, and there will be even more," Tokayev said, reflecting on the achievements of 2024.
Tokayev highlighted that the government focused on modernising engineering and utility infrastructure in 2024. He mentioned that 18 million square meters of housing were commissioned, and 7,000 kilometres of highways were constructed or repaired. New passenger terminals were opened at the airports in Almaty, Kyzylorda, and Shymkent. Large-scale projects were also carried out in the mining, petrochemical, and metallurgical industries.
"The manufacturing sector has progressed significantly, and its share in the industrial structure is nearly on par with that of the extractive sector. I would particularly like to note the success of our agrarians, who have produced a record-breaking harvest of almost 27 million tons of grain over the last ten years," said Tokayev.
He also underlined the social initiatives that the Kazakhstan government focused on, especially the beginning of payments under the National Fund for Children.
He also said that the pensions, allowances, scholarships, and civil servant salaries, were also increased in 2024. Hundreds of schools, kindergartens, and fitness centres were built, over ten leading foreign university branches opened, science funding increased, cultural figures gained strong support, and mass sports development was also prioritised.
"This represents a significant investment in strengthening the capabilities of citizens," said Tokayev.
"In general, the past year was far from simple, one could say it was tough. Kazakhstan experienced the negative impact of external factors, the natural disaster also interfered with our plans. Yet, not only did we manage to hold the situation but also continued the implementation of reforms. Thus, the procreation strategy continued its development," he said.