Local communities

Business principle: Communities

We aim to be good neighbours by continuously improving the ways in which we contribute directly or indirectly to the general wellbeing of the communities within which we work. We build productive, collaborative and trusting relationships with government, the local communities where we work and with each other. We strive to be open, straightforward, and transparent within the constraints of business confidentiality.

In its operations, KPO strives to prevent or minimize negative impacts and maximize the benefits from its presence through continuous engagement with local communities, and creating conditions for their well-being and economic growth.

The targets in table 24 are aimed at supporting the local communities living in three rural districts of Burlin district – Priuralnyi, Zharsuat and Uspenovskiy villages located adjacent to the Karachaganak Field and Aksai town.

Tab. 26.Targets in community engagement

Aiming to implement initiatives in the area of corporate social responsibility, KPO applies policies, standards and procedures based on the Performance Standards of International Finance Corporation.

In order to maintain effective dialogue with local communities on social and infrastructural support, KPO conducts meetings and consultations in the form of Village Council meetings with participation of Company employees and representatives from rural districts.

In 2023, 14 Village Councils meetings were held in the Priuralnyi, Zharsuat and Uspenovskiy rural districts. During the meetings, the local residents were informed of the KPO Community Development Programmes for 2023, on the progress of students from these rural districts who study in colleges and universities of Uralsk under the KPO Scholarship Programme, as well as KPO Environmental Monitoring Programme.

Over the period of the Scholarship Programme for residents of the nearby rural districts from 2010 to 2023, 20 young men and women received education.

As part of the Community Development Programme, KPO provided 250 vouchers for the elderly of Burlin district for health recreation in the Akzhaiyk Sanatorium.

Also, in 2023 with funding assistance from KPO 74 children had recreation in the Summer Camp in Uralsk city. The summer camp programme includes a wide range of entertainment, educational and sports events allowing children to learn a lot of new and exciting things, about nature and make new friends.

Over the twenty years of implementation of this Programme KPO provided recreation for some 2 thousand children from the neighbouring communities.

Community feedback mechanism

In 2023, in accordance with KPO Community Grievance Procedure, we received 50 complaints and requests from the local community near the Karachaganak Field. These included 19 gas odor complaints and 31 requests and suggestions of various nature from the local communities living in close proximity to the Karachaganak Field. Residents expressed their interest in the Company’s social initiatives aimed at supporting socially vulnerable groups of the population, resettled residents asked for clarifications, etc.

Check-ups carried out by the KPO Operations Environment Monitoring Team did not reveal any malfunctioning of the process equipment, leaks/emissions or MPC exceedances in each case reported. Upon completing the review, some feedback was communicated to the residents who had filed the complaints.

Monitoring of resettled communities

Since resettlement of the first residents from Berezovka and Bestau villages to Araltal micro district and apartment buildings in Aksai at the end of 2017, KPO has been annually monitoring the livelihood restoration of the resettled families.

As part of the above monitoring, in the period 2018–2022, KPO carried out the following activities for residents resettled in apartment buildings in Aksai, including Araltal, where 100 detached houses were built:

• 2018–2019 – residents of 100 houses in Araltal were provided with 11,600 tons of top soil for the cultivation of household plots;
• 2018–2021 – 800 appeals and requests of resettled residents were registered in the KPO Community Feedback Log. All issues were resolved by the end of 2021.
• 2019 – KPO assisted in complete reconstruction and relocation of the Monument to the Soldier of the Great Patriotic War from the former Berezovka village to Araltal;
• 2020 – during the COVID-19 pandemic, in cooperation with the Burlinsky District’s Akimat and the Aksai town’s Akim, KPO organized the delivery of food and essential goods on a mobile shop for residents of 100 houses in Araltal;
• In May, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the monitoring KPO Community Relations team undertook an informal survey of resettled households by phone. 226 households in Apartment Blocks 24 and 25 in microregion 10 of Aksai and 70 households in Araltal participated in the survey. The set of questions asked to residents included improvements, if any, since resettlement, employment/pensions, livelihoods, availability of KPO for contacts, and other. The residents requested that KPO provide support in moving the memorial to WW2 Soldier from the former Berezovka Village to Aksai, in installing a drainage system around the school and 100 houses built in Araltal and greening of the territory of Apartment blocks 24 and 25 in Aksai.
• 2020 – with assistance of Akim of the Aksai town of Burlin district, KPO delivered 150 tree saplings for landscaping the yard area of multi-storey buildings in 5 and 10 microdistricts in the Aksai, where resettled residents live;
• 2020–2021 – expiration of the warranty period for two apartment buildings in 10 microdistrict of Aksai, 100 detached houses in the Araltal microdistrict of Aksai, a school for 300 children in Araltal and a kindergarten for 320 children in 10 microdistrict of Aksai of Burlin district, built for the resettled residents of the former Berezovka and Bestau villages.
• 2022 – drainage system installation around a school and 100 houses in Araltal village was completed;  a tender was held to select a contractor to develop Detailed Engineering Design (DED) for the Demolition and Land Reclamation Project of the resettled Berezovka and Bestau villages. We will inform readers about the implementation of this project in the next Sustainability Report.
• 2023 – KPO arranged a Commission visit to the territory of the resettled Berezovka and Bestau villages for visual inspection of the remaining facilities subject to demolition and post-utilization. The Commission comprised of local executive authorities of the Burlin District, the project engineering organization that developed the Detailed Engineering Design documentation, KPO and local residents. During the meetings, the Commission members informed the local organizations and residents about the upcoming project activities on post-utilization and land reclamation.

Public hearings for demolition and land reclamation project

In 2023, jointly with the project engineering organization AksaiGasService and KPO, the Burlin District Akimat held public hearings on the project for the post-utilization and reclamation of lands of the resettled Berezovka and Bestau villages. Representatives of the public, farms, and local residents took part at the hearings.

At the public hearings, representatives of the contracted project engineering organization briefed the participants about the activities to be performed including the project plan. Representatives of the farms had the opportunity to ask questions to the Project Owner regarding the timeline of the project, waste transportation, restrictions and rules the Sanitary Protection Zone.

The project was approved for action at the hearings.