Kazakhstan will not purchase Russian turbines. Why did they refuse?
13 March 00:25
Kazakhstan has decided to abandon Russian turbines at the Ekibastuz GRES-2 power plant in favor of Chinese ones. This will allow the country to save $500 million, according to the publication Orda, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
It is noted that Kazakhstan has revised the construction plan for the third power unit at Ekibastuz GRES-2 and decided to abandon Russian turbines and generators.
The Chinese company Harbin Electric International has become the new equipment supplier. The decision allowed Kazakhstan to reduce the cost of the project by more than 250 billion tenge ($500 million). Energy analyst Nurlan Zhumagulov said on his Telegram channel,
“This decision has significantly reduced the cost of the project. Deputy Minister of Energy Sungat Yesimkhanov said that the cost of building the power unit has fallen from 650 billion to less than 400 billion tenge. The savings could amount to more than 250 billion tenge (about $500 million).”
The publication notes that previously, the construction was planned to be carried out with the participation of Russian companies and was expected to receive a preferential loan from the aggressor country. However, the funding never arrived, and the delivery dates were postponed.
Last year, the court also concluded a case involving the embezzlement of nearly 973 million tenge during the implementation of projects at GRES-2. The investigation concluded that the contractor received money for equipment that was never delivered. The court found one of the defendants guilty of fraud but released him from liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The rest of the defendants were acquitted due to the absence of a crime.
