OREANDA-NEWS. On 12 August 2008 was announced, that the International Airport of Karaganda hosted an opening ceremony of the reconstructed airport terminal and an ‘A’ category new cargo terminal.

BTA Bank JSC has provided a total of 4.8 billion tenge for the investment program of upgrading the International Airport of Karaganda.

Reconstruction of the airport terminal was launched in 2006. This project has enabled an increase in its annual acceptance rate from 6.2 million passengers to 7.5 million passengers, cargo turnover from 95,000 tons up to 163,000 tons, mail turnover from 10,000 tons to 12,000 tons.

Moreover, new systems of passenger registration and luggage handling, video surveillance, audio and visual alerting systems, telescopic walkways, two passenger lifts and one panoramic lift as well as two escalators have been installed in the facility over that period of time.

Given harsh weather conditions, the facility is fitted with hot-air heating and ventilation systems. A mother-and-child room, prayer rooms and new plasma screens were put in service in the terminal to make passengers feel comfortable.

Cafes, bars, shopping malls and a duty free shop will be launched in the airport soon. An LCD screen has been installed in front of the terminal city.

An ‘A’ category cargo terminal – logistic center to store and handle cargo – was set up in the airport within the mentioned investment program. The terminal that covers 3,456 square meters has an acceptance rate of 30,000 tons a year. The facility operated for interim and bonded storage is equipped with refrigerated rooms for cargo that requires a certain temperature of storage. It also operates systems of automated directory and documentation and control, safety and fire-fighting as well as packaging and warehousing.

Heads of the oblast akimat, government agencies and business entities, representatives of airlines, International Air Transport Association (IATA), travel agencies and mass media have attended the kickoff ceremony.

BTA Bank is among biggest banks in the CIS with an extensive banking chain. BTA consolidated assets in the first quarter of 2008 totaled 3,164 billion tenge (USD 26.2 million), a 3% year-on-year increase, capital grew by 2.1% up to 463 billion tenge (USD 3.8 billion). BTA consolidated net income as of April 1, 2008 made 15.6 billion tenge (USD 129 million), 25% more vs. the first quarter of 2007.

BTA strategic partner banks operate in four regions of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BTA Bank also runs representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, China and the United Arab Emirates.

BTA Bank operates a broad regional network throughout Kazakhstan (22 branches and 280 cash settlement centers) and a biggest chain of ATMs, cash and pay terminals (160). It services more than 1.2 million individual and 100,000 corporate clients.

This year BTA appears in The Banker’s TOP 200. In 2006 and 2007 reputed Itogi magazine named BTA Bank ‘The Best CIS Bank’ and Euromoney declared it ‘The Best Bank in Central Asia.’ The Europe Business Assembly (EBA, Oxford, UK) named BTA ‘the Best Enterprise of Europe’ in the Eurasian banking sector in 2007.