The assets returned to Kazakhstan by corrupt officials have been mercilessly put through a second round. In the regions, the construction of schools worth 96.4 billion tenge has boiled over, with some of them being built at exorbitant prices.

On October 16th, the Ministry of Enlightenment reported the commissioning of 13 schools with a total capacity of 25,000 student places, which were constructed using funds from the Enlightenment Infrastructure Support Fund.

Children Show No Mercy

In order to eradicate three-shift, dilapidated schools and the shortage of student places, the Enlightenment Infrastructure Support Fund was established, which operates using funds confiscated from corrupt individuals. Selection is carried out based on 11 priorities, with a primary focus on completing the construction of schools that were previously initiated. As of today, the fund has financed the construction of 62 schools with a total capacity of 76,738 student places. The funds have been transferred to the accounts of local executive bodies,

noted Mereke Nurmuhanova, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Enlightenment.

The said representative of the agency added that since the start of the academic year, 39 new schools with a total of 55,000 student places have opened in the country. In the 2023-2024 academic year, a total of 154 schools with 132,000 student places are planned to be put into operation, which will address the issues of 12 dilapidated and 29 three-shift schools.

The first thing that caught attention in this news is the Enlightenment Infrastructure Support Fund. Established in December 2022 through amendments to the education law, it essentially acts as a control account in the Ministry of Enlightenment for receiving funds and allocating them to finance the construction and reconstruction of secondary education facilities. This fund does not have a website with publicly available data, so all information about it is concentrated within ministerial offices, far from the reach of the average Kazakh citizen.

By the way, the school construction projects are partially funded by the controversial figure Kairat Boranbayev, whose companies regularly return money and real estate to the state. Just recently, more than $66 million USD (over 30 billion tenge) was transferred to the Enlightenment Infrastructure Support Fund.

However, the key point is not just the interesting mechanism the state has devised to spend the returned multibillion-dollar assets but rather how these funds are now being utilized.

In May 2023, Gani Bayssembayev approved a priority list of schools to be constructed using funds from the Enlightenment Infrastructure Support Fund. The list includes 62 projects with a total cost of 96.4 billion tenge for 38,300 student places. It’s worth noting that the mentioned billions are solely from the fund’s account, and in addition to these funds, the 62 projects are also funded by regional akimats (local government administrations), meaning taxpayers, contributing an additional 68.3 billion tenge.

We calculated that the total cost of these mega-constructions amounts to 164.8 billion tenge, and on average, each student place across the country will cost 4.2 million tenge.

Kyzylorda Beats All!

In terms of regions, the story is quite interesting. The most school places funded by both corrupt officials and taxpayers will be constructed in the Almaty region, with 11,550 places. Astana ranks second with 7,400 places, and the Mangystau region is third with 4,800 student places. In contrast, there is only one planned project in Jezkazgan, which is a dormitory with 200 places. It’s unclear how this relates to solving the problem of the shortage of student places, but each dormitory bed will cost 7.4 million tenge.

The cheapest student place, based on regional projects in general, will be in the Kostanay region at 2.3 million tenge. The most expensive, as previously mentioned, is the dormitory in the Ulytau region. However, these are average figures, as the cost of each individual project varies significantly.

For example, the construction of a 1,200-seat school in Taraz, costing 3.1 billion tenge, results in a cost of 2.6 million tenge per student place. On the other hand, in Kyzylorda, they have undertaken a large-scale project. They are building a math and science-focused school with 400 places and a dormitory for 300 places, excluding external networks (!), at a cost of 7.9 billion tenge. This means that each student place will cost 19.9 million tenge!

The reasons for this cost disparity between Taraz and Kyzylorda remain a mystery, but it appears that either significant cost-saving measures were implemented somewhere, or more substantial investments were made elsewhere.

Bring Your Cash

Here is a brief summary of the projects mentioned in the priority list by the Minister of Education in various regions:

• Akmola Region: 2 schools with 600 student places at a total cost of 3.3 billion tenge (5.6 million tenge per student place).
• Aktobe Region: 3 projects (2 of them are extensions) with 620 student places at a total cost of 2.7 billion tenge (4.4 million tenge per student place).
• Almaty Region: 10 schools with 11,550 student places at a total cost of 46.7 billion tenge (4 million tenge per student place).
• Atyrau Region: 2 schools with 1,200 student places at a total cost of 6 billion tenge (5 million tenge per student place).
• East Kazakhstan Region: 2 schools with 899 student places at a total cost of 4.9 billion tenge (5.5 million tenge per student place).
• Zhambyl Region: 6 projects (including 1 extension) with 2,850 student places at a total cost of 13.4 billion tenge (4.7 million tenge per student place).
• West Kazakhstan Region: 2 schools with 708 student places at a total cost of 3.9 billion tenge (5 million tenge per student place).
• Kostanay Region: 2 schools with 1,080 student places at a total cost of 3.1 billion tenge (2.8 million tenge per student place).
• Kyzylorda Region: 5 projects (including 2 educational buildings for junior students) with 2,175 student places at a total cost of 11.5 billion tenge (5.2 million tenge per student place).
• Mangystau Region: 4 schools with 4,800 student places at a total cost of 16.8 billion tenge (3.5 million tenge per student place).
• Pavlodar Region: 1 extension to a school with 312 student places at a cost of 1.2 billion tenge (4.1 million tenge per student place).
• North Kazakhstan Region: 2 schools with 900 student places at a total cost of 4 billion tenge (4.5 million tenge per student place).
• Turkestan Region: 9 projects (including 1 extension and 1 educational block) with 2,050 student places at a total cost of 9.9 billion tenge (4.8 million tenge per student place).
• Nur-Sultan (Astana): 10 projects (including 6 extensions to schools) with 7,425 student places at a total cost of 31.9 billion tenge (4.3 million tenge per student place).
• Zhetysu Region: 1 rural school with 1,200 student places at a cost of 3.6 billion tenge (3 million tenge per student place).
• Ulytau Region: 1 dormitory with 200 places at a cost of 1.4 billion tenge (7.4 million tenge per dormitory bed).

In principle, based on the data provided, one could draw conclusions that construction costs vary in different regions, but not always. There are cases where the cost of construction projects in a particular region may raise questions or cause puzzlement.

To Have Money and To Account Money Are Two Different Things

For example, in the Aktobe Region, in the city of Emba, a middle school for 320 students is planned, and each student place is estimated to cost 9.1 million tenge. In the same Aktobe Region, but in the city of Aktobe itself, an extension to a school for 150 students is estimated to cost 2.8 million tenge per student place. The difference is more than threefold. Or in the Zhambyl Region, in the Aray district, the cost per student place in a new school for 600 students is 2.4 million tenge, while an extension to a boarding school for gifted children in Taraz for 300 students costs 11 million tenge per place.

What is also noteworthy is that there are projects fully funded by the Fund for the Support of Education Infrastructure, meaning that no funds have been spent by regional authorities on these projects. There are five such projects, and four of them have the highest cost per student place.

1. The construction of an extension to the IT Lyceum-Boarding School for Gifted Children managed by the Department of Education of the Zhambyl Region for 300 students costs 3.2 billion tenge (11 million tenge per student place).
2. The construction of a general education school for 100 students in the village of Enbek, Kostanai District, Kostanai Region, costs 1.1 billion tenge (12.2 million tenge per student place).
3. The construction of a boarding school with a focus on physics and mathematics for 400 students with a dormitory for 300 students on the left bank of the Syr Darya River in Kyzylorda, without external networks, costs 7.9 billion tenge (19.9 million tenge per student place).
4. The construction of a dormitory for 200 students at 43D Alashakhan Street in Zhezkazgan, 1st phase, costs 1.4 billion tenge (7.4 million tenge per bed).

Additionally, the costs of construction for 22 out of the 62 projects have been adjusted, increasing by 25% to 50%. Since the start and completion dates of these projects are not provided, it’s difficult to draw conclusions about why this occurred. However, it is not uncommon for many social projects funded by the budget to experience cost increases.

In late 2022, experts from the public association «Digital Society,» Nurgali Rahmanov and Dinara Kanibay, provided evidence to support their findings. They compared the cost per student place in schools built with private investment to similar projects financed by the budget. They concluded that privately funded school construction projects, which were completed «turnkey,» did not cost more than 5 million tenge per student place. This is the category that Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) fall under. The Ministry of Enlightenment is well aware of the quality of construction in such projects. These constructions start from scratch, include infrastructure development, and involve the installation of the most advanced school furniture and equipment.

When the boarding school for 400 students in Kyzylorda is completed at a cost of 19.9 million tenge per student place, it should theoretically become a showcase educational building, admired by construction crews and the public as one of the most prestigious educational facilities in the country.