In Pavlodar region, embezzlement of over a billion budget funds meant for purchasing land for the construction of GRES-3 has been prevented. According to the regional prosecutor's office statement dated March 14, 2024, the Ekibastuz akimat assessed two plots in the rural zone using urban land prices, significantly inflating the costs. As a result, two plots with an actual value of 126 million nearly cost the budget 1,001,197,999 tenge. The prosecutor's office revoked the budget request and agreements with the plot owners for their purchase were annulled. The guilty officials have been punished, as noted in the conclusion by the Pavlodar region prosecutor's office.
Ekibastuz communal enterprises have been in the news before. For instance, on January 31, 2024, the Agency for Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced the initiation of an antimonopoly investigation against Ekibastuz GRES-1 named after Bulat Nurzhanov. The company has been deliberately not fulfilling part of its volume year after year, avoiding competition at auctions to maintain prices at a maximum level, leading to increased electricity costs for end consumers.
