The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan and South Hydro Power LLP have signed an agreement to implement a project for the construction of a water pipeline with a cascade of hydroelectric power stations with a capacity of 72 MW in the Turkestan region. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Key project parameters

The project envisages the construction of a group water pipeline with a length of 54.7 km and a cascade of hydropower plants on the Ugam River. According to the ministry, the new infrastructure will provide high-quality drinking water to more than 1 million residents of the Kazygurt, Saryagash, Keles, Maktaaral and Zhetysai districts of the Turkestan region.

The installed capacity of the hydropower cascade will be 72 MW. The generated electricity is expected to help reduce the energy deficit in the region.

Terms of the agreement

The signed agreement determines the volumes of water consumption, as well as the timing of the investment and operational stages of the project. After the completion of the period stipulated by the contract, the main water pipeline will be transferred free of charge to state ownership.

The ministry noted that the facility is included in the list of strategic water facilities of Kazakhstan. It is planned that the share of domestically produced products during construction will be 90%.

Company structure

According to the Adata service, the founder of South Hydro Power is the Financial Trade and Industrial Corporation Ontustik LLP, controlled by the family of Serikzhan Seitzhanov. At the same time, on the website of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, among the beneficiaries of the project, in addition to FTIC Ontustik, the company East Industry Company Ltd, associated with Baglan Bazarbekuly and Nurlan Kozhabekov, is listed.

According to the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, the project is at the stage of collecting documents for a banking expertise. The construction cost, commissioning dates and the final financing structure are not disclosed in the ministry's statement.

About Serikzhan Seitzhanov

Serikzhan Seitzhanov ranks 27th in the ranking of the 50 most influential businessmen of Kazakhstan according to Forbes Kazakhstan for 2026. He is the founder and president of FTIC Ontustik, which consolidates assets in oil production, construction, chemical and hotel industries.

The family's business portfolio includes 57.16% of the oil-producing company Sauts Oil, the drilling company Smart-Oil, the cement plant Standard Cement, the chemical enterprise Talas Investment Company and the gold mining company Central Asia Mining Co.

In addition, the family owns the Rixos Khadisha Shymkent and Rixos Turkestan hotels, the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy and an innovation and technology college in Shymkent.