ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s government has recalled from parliament a bill on the ratification of a planned $6 billion renewable energy deal with the Abu Dhabi’s holding company ADQ and energy company Taqa, a document published on Wednesday showed.
Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov signed a decree recalling the bill on Monday, according to the official legal database, the first working day after a week of violent unrest that led to the previous cabinet’s resignation.
The decree cited no reasons for the move. Some industry analysts have questioned the deal announced last month as it was not preceded by competitive bidding.
Under the planned deal, the UAE companies and Kazakhstan’s sovereign fund were to set up a joint company that would receive stakes in two Kazakh hydroelectric power plants and build a solar power plant, a wind farm and a gas power plant in the former Soviet republic.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach ADQ or Taqa for comment after normal business hours.
Protests against car fuel price hikes in Kazakhstan turned violent last week and have resulted in the sidelining of its veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev who resigned as president in 2019 but had retained sweeping powers as chairman of the security council.
At the peak of the crisis this month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he was taking over the security council role. Nazarbayev has not made any comments and has not been seen in public since the unrest began.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Additional reporting by Tamara Vaal in Nur-Sultan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
