State-built apartment houses falling apart in Talgar near Almaty

5-storey buildings constructed as part of a state program several years ago in one of the regions of Talgar town near Almaty are falling apart virtually in front of the eyes of the residents, Peoplenews.kz writes. Huge cracks have appeared on the walls of the quite new buildings. The facing of one of the buildings has fallen off almost entirely. Doctors, teachers and town administration employees who acqured apartments in these buildings through mortgage loans are concerned about their safety. Prior to the First President’s Day the people organized an unauthorized protest demanding to punish the constructors and bring the officials who comissioned the buildings to responsibility. This is not the first case of news buildings damages in Kazakhstan. The largest such case involved a building's collapse in Bessoba region of Karaganda in central Kazakhstan on April 6, 2012. “Development of unacceptable foundation settlement caused by soil swelling” was tagged the main reason behind the collapse. 5-storey residential building No.7 of Bessoba residential complex, constructed 3 years ago was an equity construction project. A criminal case was initiated against the construction companies that erected the building No.7. Besides, a criminal case for abuse of powers was initiated against chairman and members of the state commission that accepted the building in exploitation after its construction.