“We have three foreign companies that are investing in EXPO”

By Laura Suleimenova

Photo of construction site was provided by "Astana-EXRO-2017" press service. The Chairman of the board of Astana EXPO-2017 National Company Talgat Ermegiyaev confirmed the information that was earlier published in AkZhaik newspaper about allocation of $50 million by the North Caspian project operator - NCOC for holding an exhibition (see “Everything was written off and still remained indebted to all” ).

The information electronic bulletin of Astana-EHRO-2017 posted information that currently the issue of financing is discussed with another major oil company. The quotation is referred to Ermegiyaev. ther large oil-extracting company" is fulfilled today: "We have proposals to such companies. We will try to involve them into certain programs, for example, to build a kindergarten on the territory of the exhibition or innovative school, and to cover the costs with the tickets’ sales so that they are affordable, etc. Currently we are discussing the issue with one more major oil company. We want to use their funds for new technologies, for improvement of the city image and other similar activities".

According to Ermegiyaev, 127 billion tenge of investments have been attracted to-date:

- In total we have three foreign companies that are investing in EXPO. There are also joint ventures, but investments mostly come from Kazakhstan companies.

He also said that optimization of EXPO expenses by 10 billion tenge in 2017 proposed by the government will not affect the speed of construction activities. Besides, according to Ermegiyaev, the cost of tickets for the population, perhaps, will be reconsidered from 28 euros to 1 thousand tenge.