250 million tenge needed for remedying the consequences of fire on Mokhnatka

Almaty. September 5. Kazakhstan Today - 250 million tenge is needed for the elimination of the effects of fire on the Mokhnatka mountain, Kazakhstan Today reports.

The elimination of the consequences of fire requires 250 million tenge, including 145 million tenge for restoration of 750 cubic meters of wood to deter avalanches, the head of the department of mobilization training, civil defense, organization of prevention and mitigation of accidents and disasters in Almaty, Yuri Ilyin said on Tuesday.

Akim of Almaty, Akhmetzhan Yesimov reported on a conference call of the government that the charred and fallen trees on Mokhnatka begin to slide, there is a risk of flooding.

He stressed that "if not start building of avalanche restraining structures today, it can all slip away". In particular, he said, avalanches threaten the "Medeo" rink.

On August 22, late at night in Almaty, Medeu gorge on the Mokhnatka mountain the fire happened. As a result, 21 hectares of forest burned. A large number of dead trees that remain in the national park after hurricane that struck May 17, 2011 contributed to the spread of fire. As a result of the wind the trees were demolished in the area of 480 hectares. Volume of deadwood and snags in Medeo was 96 thousand cubic meters.

By the end of April this year in Medeo only 16 cubic meters of windfall timber in the area of 45.5 hectares were cleared.

Damage from the hurricane was 170 million tenge. Experts hope to restore the image of the national park, although they admit: there is a huge amount of work. There are about 50 thousand of demolished trees to remove. The restoration of the forest will take from 50 to 100 years, as the pine trees, in particular, the Tien Shan spruce, grow very slowly.

Earlier, Mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yesimov criticized the progress rate of the hurricane elimination in the Ile-Alatau National Park. "You delayed the resolution of this issue", the mayor said at a retreat workshop at the State Regional Park "Medeu", official media reports.

Head of the city was presented current information on clean-up of fallen trees.

"The local budget allocated the necessary funds - 617 million tenge, the government did not provide a single penny. Three months have already passed. There are still no regulations. We have many companies that are engaged in woodworking. They are ready to bring people and do rubble removal by themselves. But they have no clarity of how to do this work. Nobody wants to deal tomorrow with prosecutors and financial police", the mayor said.

"During this time, from more than 90 thousand cubic meters of timber felled you took out only four thousand cubic meters. At this rate, how many years are necessary to finish the job?", akim of Almaty criticized the work of the Committee for Forestry and Hunting of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan.

Leadership of the Ile-Alatau National Park assured the Mayor that all the comments will be considered and the work on restoration will be accelerated.

However, the Minister of Agriculture Asylzhan Mamytbekov made a proposal last August to leave the fallen trees on the mountain slopes.

"We have to solve the problem without fuss, with a well-designed, evidence-based technology of clearance. Worldwide windfalls are not cleared, they are retained, and nature itself resolves it by the disintegration and decay. And so the soil is not disturbed", A. Mamytbekov said.

It was also noted previously that the loss of forests leads to accumulation of large amounts of fuel, which significantly increases the possibility of fires and erosion on slopes.

Work on forest planting on state forest areas damaged by the hurricane, scheduled for 2012-2014, the costs amount to 49.6 million tenge.

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