Nazarbayev supports eco-friendly Almaty: city centre to become exclusively pedestrian

President of Kazakhstan has visited Almaty this weekend, Tengrinews reports. He has been to the newly opened fashionable Dostyk Plaza shopping mall, bought some the Made in Kazakhstan products and participated in the opening ceremony of two new subway stations in Almaty.

President Nazarbayev also took part in a meeting with media representatives to discuss development of the City of Apples. According to the Kazakh leader, the main goal in the development of Almaty is to improve the city's ecology.

High level of air pollution in Almaty, according to UNDP, is attributed to motor vehicle emissions. Scary 160 thousand tons of emissions pollute the air of the largest city in Kazakhstan every year. Almaty's location at the foot of the Alatau mountains, too, affects the ratio of pollution in the air, because the mountain chain hinders the circulation of air that could otherwise blow away some of the harmful emissions.

Earlier, Exclusive magazine reported Almaty Oblast as the second most polluted area in Kazakhstan. If there is nothing to be done with the location that according to Sholpan Aitkhozhina of the UNDP in Europe and Central Asia traps motor vehicle emissions in the city, surely, there is much to be done with the actual fact of producing the pollutants.  

“To improve the environmental condition of the city, the municipal transportation will start operating on pollution-free clean natural gas. Today two new subway stations, positively affecting the environment, have been opened. It is also planed to launch new tramways, electro mobiles and ultimately turn the city center into an exclusively pedestrian area,” Nazarbayev said.

The government, according to the President, pays close attention to the development of Almaty.

“All the Kazakhstanis, including me, love Almaty. The city has become even better since the Independence (of Kazakhstan in 1991). All the conditions for living, studying, receiving health treatment and working have been created here. All the venues built for the 2017 Universiade will be used for the benefit of the city dwellers. Almaty is a multiethnic city with a friendly population. This makes a solid basis for well being,” Nazarbayev said.

By Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina