Joint meeting of the Union of Road Carriers of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held in Atameken headed by Serik Aliguzhinov, the Chairman of the Board of the Union of Road Carriers of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The meeting was attended by heads of industry associations of passenger transport of 16 regions of the country, representatives of the Department of Passenger Transport and Highways of the regions' akimats of Almaty and Astana, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The sore issues of the motor transport industry, which require the decision of the authorized and local executive bodies were discussed.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of the NCE RK "Atameken" Yeldos Ramazanov noted that the main priorities of the National Chamber is to protect the rights and legitimate interests of business and participation in the formation of legislative and regulatory rules of business.

"We are working actively towards reducing administrative barriers for the carriers together with the Union of Carriers of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. We have created a comprehensive program for the development of bus transport for the years 2018-2020"- Eldos Ramazanov said.

The activities of the Comprehensive Program provide for subsidizing bus routes, updating buses, improving legislation, developing automation of passenger services, creating conditions for the effective functioning of passenger transport and regulation of irregular passenger traffic.
Also, Yeldos Ramazanov noted that taking into account the interests of carriers, the issue of examption from the payment of CIT and VAT for passenger carriers is being worked out.

"There is a positive position on the part of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on temporary exemption from payment of CIT and VAT. It is planned that a pilot project will work within two years. The initiative was supported by  the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan" - Yeldos Ramazanov added.

Serik Aliguzhinov, in his turn, spoke about the increasing need of the population for high-quality services performed by the carriers. However, without proper support of local executive bodies in the form of subsidizing the losses - this is impossible. Akimats create municipal parks in a market environment, which contradicts the principles of the Yellow Pages, and the norms of the Business Code where it is prescribed to reduce the state's participation in entrepreneurial activities are violated (Article 21). 

"These initiatives of local executive bodies crowd out the subjects of private entrepreneurship from the transportation services market by allocating subsidies, purchasing new buses and taking the routes away only in favour of the municipal parks" the Chairman of the Union of Carriers of the Republic of Kazakhstan said.

Laura Shansharbayeva, the Senior Assistant of the Chief Transport Prosecutor of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that over 2.5 thousand violations of legislation on road transport were identified - 120 road accidents in which 70 people died.

"94 cases of illegall reequipment of the buses have been identified. Also, the main threat to the security of passenger transportation is represented by illegal carriers that do not have permits. A random audit revealed 139 cases of violation. As a result, from 2016, about 600 road accidents were committed through the fault of the illigal carriers" - Laura Shansharbaeva added.

During the discussion, the General Director of the Union of the Carriers, Sabit Amanbayev, emphasized that in order to combat illegal carriers, it is necessary to return the control functions from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Transport Committee of the MIA RK as soon as possible.

He also outlined the need to improve the legal and regulatory framework of the industry.

"Urgent measures are required to change all regulatory documents - the basis for business development. Realizing this task, the UoC gathered the proposals on changes from 12 associations with which we work under cooperation agreements. Proposals on the Code "On Administrative Offenses" of the Rules for Passenger Transportation were submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan" - Sabit Amanbayev noted.

To ensure effective interaction between business and government, the Union of Carriers suggests revising the policy in the relations between local executive bodies and carriers.
This initiative was supported by many carriers of regional industry associations.
Deputy Chairman of the "Kazlogistics" Yuriy Lavrinenko emphasized that the industry must take responsibility for the services it performs.

"We will not achieve good results if certain employees will not be interested in solving problems. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that they work within the framework of legal competence" - Yury Lavrinenko noted.

As a result of the meeting, it was decided to take measures to reduce administrative barriers together with the state bodies.