President Wants End to Almaty Construction Boom
Thursday, 26 April, 2007
President Wants End to Almaty Construction Boom
Thursday, 26 April, 2007
On April 23, President Nazarbaev put forward a proposal to ban further construction work in Almaty to protect the environment, saying that 1.5 million people now live in an area that can only cope with 400,000. The president repeated his idea that funds should be redirected to develop satellite towns around Almaty.
NBCentralAsia analysts agree that large-scale construction must stop for environmental reasons, but such a ban needs to be thought through properly to avoid panic in the construction and housing market.
Aleksey Polozhentsev, one of the founders of the Kazakstan Health Association, has welcomed Nazarbaev’s proposal, saying Kazakstan could learn from other countries, “There are many cases all over the world where restrictions have been placed on urban construction, for example, in Washington, where they stopped building in accordance with the general city plan.”
The construction boom in Almaty has led to a huge influx of people and the number of cars in the city has risen dramatically. Vehicle emissions are not dispersed naturally by the winds, as Almaty sits in a valley where the air is still. According to Polozhentsev, “The city should not be built up any further without thinking about the fact that Almaty doesn’t get much wind. It all has an impact on children.”
Experts say people should be encouraged to drive cars with cleaner engines to help restore the ecological balance, and special emphasis should be put on building good transport links to attract investment for building satellite towns.
Aman Aujanov, director of the Aman construction company, says the ban should be based on clear technical and environmental grounds and should not apply to projects already under way, so as to avoid heating up the housing market.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
