Making friends with cities

Mayors and vice-mayors of 17 twin cities came to Astana to congratulate her on her birthday. Officially, they arrived at the forum, where issues of urban development were to be discussed, but all speeches were reduced to congratulating the birthday girl. They did not skimp on compliments.

Before the pandemic, this forum was held every year, and after the pandemic, for the first time. In general, Astana has more than fifty sister cities, but on Wednesday the mayors of the cities of Rabat, Nusantara, Bishkek, Kazan, Belgrade, the governor of the Penza region and vice-mayors of a number of other cities were able to arrive. All of them called the main city of Kazakhstan not just a twin, but their twin brother. And the authorities of the Indonesian capital under construction, Nusantara, even asked Astana to teach them how to competently move their capital with the entire state apparatus from Jakarta.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his speech addressed the former akims of Astana, honorary citizens of the capital, labor veterans, cultural, sports, scientific and civil servants present in the hall. He said that everyone "made a great contribution to the transformation of a provincial Soviet town into a modern metropolis."

Nursultan Nazarbayev was not in the hall, but the head of state mentioned him separately.

- The construction of Astana has become one of the most significant events in the history of independent Kazakhstan. The initiative to move the capital was the right step from a geopolitical point of view. Therefore, we need to adequately and fairly assess the contribution of Nursultan Nazarbayev to this matter, the president said.

Tokayev noted the growing international prestige of Astana, where it will take at least an hour to list the political and entertainment events held in it, then addressed the young residents of Kazakhstan.

- Astana is a young and ambitious city, where people strive to get from all over our vast country. The capital has already given a start to a prosperous life for many young people. I have high hopes for young people, young residents of cities and the capital. Today Astana is a city of great opportunities, where every citizen can realize his potential. Astana forms new facets of national identity and a new quality of the nation, the President emphasized.

A couple of proposals were addressed to the city authorities. Tokayev delicately noted that "the situation when the central streets are glossed, and slums grow on the outskirts, is incompatible with the idea of a just society." When improving Astana, it is necessary to follow the principle "not a person for a city, but a city for a person". He recalled the forecasts of experts, according to which there will be at least 2 million inhabitants in the capital by 2030.

- All citizens should have equal access to education, healthcare, cultural and leisure facilities, parks and public spaces. This also applies to the need to increase the accessibility of urban infrastructure for citizens with special needs. Frankly, we still have to improve our work here," Tokayev stated.

A 62-year-old guest from the United States, the head of the educational center Steppe Global education Joel Meyer ERICKSON, on the sidelines of the forum expressed the opinion that Astana houses look boring and monotonous. In his opinion, artists should be involved in the design of Astana. And, in his opinion, the city is not adapted for pedestrians.

- You have very good spaces for this, and I see huge opportunities for hiking. I don't see any trams in your country. That would help, too," he said.

By the way, the American said that he encountered dishonest taxi drivers in Kazakhstan.

- When I was in Almaty for the first time, taxi drivers asked me for 60 thousand tenge from the airport to the center. I myself am cunning about this and use Yandex. But many tourists do not know about it. Why don't you have a domestic taxi aggregator? That would be nice, especially in Almaty and Astana. If you had a domestic Yandex, a quarter of the cost would not go to Russia, but remained here. And you could spend that money on electric taxis," Erickson said.

Local architects are not entirely satisfied with the appearance of the capital.

- There are many objects that do not fit in with the surrounding buildings. It would seem that there was some kind of building, its own scale, its own style - and suddenly some screaming object grows! There is a problem with the quality of the constructed facilities. It is felt that investors saved on everything: not the most high-quality materials, a lot of things flew around, low-quality glass - this can be seen in the sun, when the glare plays unevenly, as if crumpled glass. It is difficult to blame architects for this, they design according to building codes, their projects must undergo a meticulous examination. And it is violated by developers who want to save money. As a result, we get the following result: the asphalt in the city fails, the paving stones lose their appearance next year, the cladding flies off, the house begins to crumble, - one of the first builders of the capital, Honored Architect of Kazakhstan Serik Rustambekov shared his vision.

But mostly the forum participants confessed their love for Astana, comparing her with a beautiful, young, sometimes capricious girl.

Togzhan GANI, Astana

Source:time.kz