When everything is intended for nothing

By Sergey ABAKSHIN

Everything in the world is 90% worthless

Murphy law

Key feature of state governance in Kazakhstan is lack of estimated needs in everything. It may be look strange for the country which went from USSR, i.e. the state having all of kinds of plans and calculations, but facts are stubborn things.

There are schools where students are sitting in heads of each other, and the other ones pupils are cooeeing in empty class-rooms and halls, so it raises the question on how is it happen? In fact, if first ones mix with the second ones then it will be just all right. There are all required resources in macro-level. Although within the transition to a micro-level everything is going to Tartarus. State system didn’t learn to oversee any requirements in addition to a certain people and territory yet.

It’s deemed that even rich state cannot develop private and public transport simultaneously. It needs to set the priority otherwise resources won’t be enough. USSR developed public transport, USA – private. The accent is being transferred from private to public in Modern Germany, i.e. country is in the transition period. Kazakhstan has no priority at the question. As the result passenger cannot get the bus in Almaty rush hour and driver of own car is staying in ever-ending traffic jam.

Almaty’s subway is a kind of a mirror of non-systemic approach. The big city is a priori needs subway and it’s in a kind of construction process. Though, many questions appear in the phase of future subway’s lines. Why do they are constructed from point “A” to point “B”, when most of passenger traffic falls into points of “C” and “D”?

The page of strategic planning is torn from the book of Kazakhstan state governance. In facts, the need in planning is raised in many times relatively with soviet period. Soviet system of administration of everything had cell shape. That’s why all institutions: registration, when everyone was tough tied to a residence, sector doctor, policeman, school and polyclinic at the micro-district, district military commissariat and others – were organically fit to the system.

Market-based economy led to a movement of huge masses of the Republic; moreover not only inside the country but over the external perimeter also. In 90-ies Kazakhstan was among first five countries of planet earth at absolute indexes of external migration, when his neighbor countries had population from 80 million people to 1 billion. As the result it’s become more difficult but more important to calculate the amount of schools, hospitals, roads, electricity and housings.

System unavailability of everything to everything appeared even in obvious things. It was clear from the very beginning, for instance, within the transition of the capital from Almaty to Astana that the main administrative center of the country will show dramatically changes. Although, there was even no indicative plan concerning schools and kindergartens; aside from the need to build storm water sewer system, additional power energy, gas and heat power capacity.

It cannot be said prediction calculations in system of state governance are missing at all. They simply degenerated into detached from reality abstractions. When Akhmetzhan Esimov (Almaty’s akim in present days) headed the ministry of agriculture, his department made up the model of optimal country-side residence place. It turned out that it must be lived 2 thousand of people in such place. Fictitious number had no argumentation as well as the facilities where people will work and their professional specialization. Projects, projects, projects…

The number of 57 regulatory bodies is well known in Kazakhstan; they have the right to interfere into work of small and medium-sized enterprises; at least nobody can set up clearly the aim of their activity. Every official document declares the principle of entrepreneurship development, whereas the vector of state efforts id derived on economy regulating. So it turns, private sector is under state regulation from the one side and the state sector, which is acting without any control, from the other. The scandals rose occasionally relatively budget funds plundering illustrate such things once again.

Nobody in our state can show at system-based and reasonable level what will happen to the country today and tomorrow. When Almaty experienced building boom then need in electric energy was rising in 15% yearly, but nobody worked out normally this area of life support. Today, when the quantity of self-employed people consists to almost the third of working-age population and there are no dependable calculations, no one knows where it will lead in short-term and mid-term perspective. Every cogitative person realizes that such state of things won’t bring good but no one to ask the detail alignment about pensions, social conflicts, and political aspects and no one to blame.

The vicious circle reproduces itself. It seems that the state is seized by incorrigible temporary workers with the motto “if only we would stay for one day and hold for one night”, and come what may, but save us God. The information on realty prices which our officials buy abroad gives us stronger impulse to think that state ship is in critical situation. Otherwise, why are they so actively trying to provide themselves with individual lifeboats?

Official statistics turn to system addition of disability to calculate something in social important format. The numbers given to us by state statistics are seemingly have official recognized but they’re lack of specific content. It’s impossible to create real picture at the basis of such kind of numbers and more over it useless to build the forecast. In common, statistics became modified form (when form takes over the content). It doesn’t matter whether the carpet is the magic carpet, but it’s written as aircraft in nomenclature.

As the result it is appearing that people will be educated on professions which are not required on the market in following time. Others are buying estates in cities, where city-establishing enterprise could stop working tomorrow. And third are looking for the opportunity to leave its neighborhood, whereas by all real-world trends it is worth to keep there, because during next days labor, salary and infrastructure will come to it.

State authorities and civil services are able only at situational response without strategic planning. It looks like wanderer that plods his unknown way, eats and drinks, as well as sleeps where the Lord will provide, and he has no any idea whether he’d better stay or go on his way. And if he’d better go on, then where?

Textbooks on economy basis the entrepreneur resource considered as apart from natural resources and labour force. Labour force task is specific, and entrepreneurs task is to provide whole system functioning. In modern world conditions the same role plays strategic planning. If it proceeds in a company level then it has effects for its personnel, owners and economic sector, when it proceeds in state level then it has effect for the country in whole (and it can touch neighboring countries also). The lack of such planning has negative impacts at the Republic in every level.