Nurly Kosh implementation to begin in 2009

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ASTANA — Implementation of the Nurly Kosh (Bright Settlement) project, which is part of a government migration management programme, will begin in Kazakhstan in 2009. Its objective is the efficient voluntary resettlement of nationals who have returned to the country from abroad and Kazakhstan citizens who are living in depressed regions of the country.

According to the World Kazakh Association, their returns to Kazakhstan began in 1991 and 686,000 have returned thus far. Since independence, Kazakhstan has been searching for optimal ways to help them adapt to their homeland. While some of those efforts have been positive, returnees still face a number of problems.

The Nurly Kosh Project, presented to parliamentary deputies last month, is a comprehensive approach to resolving these problems. It specifies that returnees will be settled in population centres, with average to high potentials for economic development, around major cities and suburbs that form a network of small so-called "satellite towns."

According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, which drafted the legislation, currently those areas can employ about 390,000 people. With this in mind, the ministry plans to build 28 compact settlements with accommodations for at least 1,000 families each. Returness who participate in Nurly Kosh and their family members will have the right to receive social assistance, primarily in the form of low mortgage interest rates for purchasing residences.

According to Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population Berdibek Saparbayev, Nurly Kosh will promote the efficient distribution of the labour force where needed in the country and provide a direct economic stimulus for returnees.