SEZ and IZ

In the first years after the transfer of the capital, the problem of accelerated development of the left bank of the Yesil River was acute. It was planned to achieve this goal by attracting investments and using advanced technologies in construction, as well as creating modern infrastructure. For this purpose, by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 29, 2001 No. 645, the SEZ "Astana – New City" was created. The territory of the SEZ "Astana – New City" has been expanded several times, covering all new districts of the young capital, and its validity period has been extended. The goals of its creation have expanded from the initial stimulation of the construction of the capital to the development of manufacturing industries in suburban industrial zones. As practice has shown, the functioning of this SEZ turned out to be successful and made a huge contribution to the development of Nur-Sultan. A significant part of the city has been actively built up throughout the entire term of the SEZ, and Industrial Park No. 1 is 99% full of participants. By mid-2020, the number of projects in Industrial Park No. 1 exceeded 80, the number of jobs amounted to more than 4 thousand, and the total cost of projects amounted to 278 billion. tenge.

Each tenge invested by the state in the construction of the infrastructure of Industrial Park No. 1 attracted almost 8 tenge of private investment and brought 3.6 tenge of taxes to the budget.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, as of the first half of 2020, the Astana-New City SEZ is the largest special economic zone in the Republic of Kazakhstan, producing 71% of total production (in monetary terms) and bringing 44% of tax revenues from all SEZs of the country, providing 22% of the share of exports of products of all zones SEZ.

The validity of the SEZ "Astana – new City" expires in 2027.

In these conditions, in order to continue the policy of stimulating the development of the city of Nur-Sultan, a new special economic zone "Astana – Technopolis" was created by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 772 dated November 24, 2017 with a validity period until 2042.

The new SEZ was tasked with developing Industrial Park No. 2, and the new SEZ "Astana – Technopolis" also included the territories of the flagship of higher education in the country – Nazarbayev University and Nurly Zhol Boulevard. This SEZ has a mixed specialization from traditional construction and manufacturing industries to high-tech industries such as information technology, scientific research, medicine and others. To date, design work is being carried out on Industrial Park No. 2.

On February 13, 2018, by the decree of the Akimat of the capital, the Management Company of the SEZ "Astana – Technopolis" was established, and from May 20, 2019, the SEZ "Astana – New City" was also transferred to its jurisdiction.

Thus, both metropolitan SEZs are currently managed by a single Management company. Since July 2020, the Management company of the SEZ "Astana – Technopolis" has moved to Industrial Park No. 1 in order to improve interaction with industrial enterprises and promptly solve problems.