Kazakh officials are forbidden to buy foreign cars
Civil servants of Kazakhstan are forbidden to buy foreign cars in the next two years. At the same time, they prohibit the companies, involved in corruption, to participate in state tenders.
According to the press service of the Union of Automobile Industry Enterprises of Kazakhstan “KazAvtoProm”, the prohibition was imposed by the Decree of the Government of the Republic last week.
It should be noted that the prohibition on the purchase of foreign cars (and not only) is prescribed in the Article 14 of the Law on Public Procurement, which states that foreign goods can only be purchased if they are not produced in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan companies, that have a certificate of origin of the goods form “CT-KZ”, are allowed to participate in tenders.
Meanwhile, it has already become known what kind of brand cars the officials will have. According to the Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Amaniyaz Yerzhanov at a press conference in the government, it can be Korean brands.
“We are only engaged in assembly, we have Ravon, KIA, SsangYong,” Yerzhanov said. “We have already moved to KIA cars. It should not be ironic that the Ministers drive Mercedes. These cars have been bought long ago, they are 10-15 years old. We moved to cars of domestic assembly in 2016-2017, when we began to implement the Industrial program.
There is some truth in the words of the Vice Minister. Indeed, today the fleet of state structures in Kazakhstan is replenished mainly due to cars of domestic large-site assembly. So, according to the same KazAvtoProm during the first half of 2019, the Kazakh government agencies purchased 2300 cars in the amount of $45.2 million. The most popular brand among civil servants was LADA. In January-June, 813 units of this brand were purchased. UAZ with the result of 534 units, Skoda (299 units), KIA (236 units) and Hyundai (184 units) also entered the top 5. Most actively, the government agencies bought passenger cars.
According to the Director of strategic planning of KazAvtoProm Arthur Miskaryan, Kazakhstan produces over 60 models of passenger cars, which are not inferior in terms of technical characteristics to foreign analogues.
They have been trying to realize the idea of transferring civil servants to domestic cars in Kazakhstan for several years. The reason is simple – Kazakh officials have an incredible craving for foreign executive cars.
It should also be noted that the situation with tenders in state bodies of Kazakhstan is rather critical. This is confirmed by amendments to laws on public procurement. The draft amendments are up for public comment. One of the proposed changes is a prohibition of companies, involved in corruption scandals, to admit to public procurement.
“There are some facts when Heads of companies involved in public procurement are involved in corruption crimes. At the same time, such companies, whose leaders (founders) are prosecuted for corruption crimes, continue to participate and win tenders in government procurement. Meanwhile, in accordance with international best practice, companies involved in corruption scandals are not allowed to participate in government procurement,” the document says.
