OREANDA-NEWS. August 12, 2013. Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov held a teleconference meeting on the issues of implementation of the program "Affordable Housing 2020", construction industry and harvesting campaign at Ukimet Uyi.

Deputy Minister of Regional Development Serik Nokin told about the implementation of the program "Affordable Housing 2020".

"For six months of the current year 3 million square meters of housing, or 46% of the annual plan, were put into operation through all sources of funding. In the total amount of housing more than 60% or 1.8 million square meters account for individual housing construction," Nokin said.

According to him, 17.5 billion tenge will be allocated for the construction of rental housing for the waiting list in 2013. "If previously we built annually 2-2.5 thousand apartments, then this year it is planned to build 4 thousand apartments with a total area of 285 thousand square meters. In fact, in the first six months of the year there were commissioned 632 apartments with a total area of 38.4 thousand square meters of rental units or 13% of the annual plan. According to local akimats, it is planned to commission the major part of rental housing in the third and fourth quarters," the Vice Minister added.

10 billion tenge is envisaged for the construction of rental housing for young families in 2013. It is planned to build 117 thousand square meters. 314 apartments with a total area of 19.3 thousand square meters or 17% of the plan was put into service in the first halfyear.

Also, it is planned to commission 451.5 thousand square meters of housing under the program of housing savings. 80 thousand square meters or 1200 apartments have already been put into operation. 30.1 billion tenge is envisaged for this purpose in the current year.

Totally it is planned to put into service 6.6 million square meters of housing in 2013. However, we believe the volumes can be increased to the level of previous years up to 6.8 million square meters, the Deputy Minister emphasized.

"The 2013 plan of 6.8 million square meters must be fulfilled. We have all the resources and opportunities to do this," Prime Minister Akhmetov urged.

In this regard, he instructed the Ministry of Regional Development to ensure permanent monitoring and strict control over the implementation of the Program in all directions, akimats of the regions, Astana and Almaty cities to take steps to utilize the funds allocated until the end of this month.

Vice Minister of Agriculture Muslim Umiryayev reported on the second issue on agenda - the progress of the harvesting campaign.

According to him, the total sown area as a result of spring field work amounted to 21.4 million hectares. In the current year, crops on the area of 15.7 million hectares are subject to harvesting. As of August 2, 830 thousand tons of grain was harvested on the area of 525 hectares, while the average yield is 15.7 centner per hectare, which is 5.8 centner more than last year.

"To date, more than 67% of crops are in good condition, more than 30% - in satisfactory condition. In this regard, the forecast of the gross grain harvest in net weight is about 16.3 million tons," Umiryayev said.

To finance the sowing and harvesting this year "KazAgro" Holding allocated 60 billion tenge. 410 thousand tons of diesel fuel was provided for the harvesting campaign.

"According to preliminary estimates, the overall yield and total grain output is expected to exceed the level of 2012.

"The Government has taken all the necessary measures for the orderly conduct of harvesting campaign. To maintain the momentum the Ministry of Agriculture and the governors of the regions have to keep under control the progress of harvesting," Serik Akhmetov noted.

He instructed the governors of the regions to assist agricultural producers in preparation of agricultural equipment for the harvesting season, provision with fuel and other resources.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications together with JSC "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy"were urged to ensure the required number of grain cars for grain shipments, Oil and Gas Ministry to ensure control over the timely delivery of fuel to the regions.