Kazakhstan: Proparco partners with Rönesans to finance a major hospital in the city of Kokshetau

Proparco has granted a EUR 60 million loan for the construction and operation of a 630-bed multidisciplinary hospital in the city of Kokshetau, Kazakhstan. The project will be co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which have co-arranged the financing package, together with the German Investment Corporation (DEG), the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), as well as the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) through parallel loans.

Total financing of up to EUR 365 million will be provided to RenEll Kokhsteau LLP, a Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of Rönesans Holding, a Turkish company operating in the construction, real estate, infrastructure, healthcare and energy sectors in 30 countries and a long-standing client of Proparco.

This first public-private partnership (PPP) in the healthcare sector of Kazakhstan and Central Asia will be a greenfield development of a 110,000 m2 facility, which will provide services to more than 730,000 people living in the city of Kokshetau and the wider region of Akmola.

According to the PPP agreement, the private partner will be responsible for maintaining the facility and for running a digital hospital information management system (HIMS). Provided on a 24-hour basis, the HIMS will become a benchmark for the digitalisation of Kazakhstan’s healthcare sector. Medical services will be provided by Turar Healthcare, a state-owned non-profit national healthcare operator.

The new hospital will seek to receive a “Silver” rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building certification programme, which recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices. It will also aim to obtain an EDGE certification for water and energy savings.

Proparco is the subsidiary, focused on private sector development, of the AFD Group, which officially established a representative office in Astana in August 2024, following the intergovernmental agreement signed in November 2023 between France and the Republic of Kazakhstan. Cooperation in the healthcare sector is identified as a key priority of the Group's mandate in Kazakhstan, supported by a FEXTE grant financing of approximately EUR 1 million approved in October 2024 by AFD board and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed during the State visit of the President of Kazakhstan in Paris in early November 2024.