Fate of Almaty Airport looks questionable

Published: 3/8/2000

According to local press reports in Kazahkstan, the Almaty region's head of administration, Zamanbek Nurkadilov, has signed a contract with the Turkish company, Altun Bashlar, for the construction of what is reported as a world-class airport in Kapchagay, a town 65 kms to the north of Almaty. The estimated cost of the project is $980m, although sources close to the project put the cost at a considerably lower level. According to the regional government, financing is expected to come in the form of 30-year funding package from a consortium of Japanese, American and German banks. UK construction company, Bovis, is reported as being the airport's designer, but comments that, although it is in discussion with Altun Bashlar, it is for the contract to manage the construction of the airport, rather than its design and has yet to sign a contract. Given this fact, it seems unlikely that the ground breaking, timed for May, will take place as scheduled. It was not until this January that the government committed itself to the rebuilding of the international terminal at the existing Almaty Airport, which was destroyed by fire in 1999. The move to build another major airport capable of handling 1.7m passengers a year, in such close proximity to Almaty, seems curious, particularly given the perilous condition of the country's economy and, for that matter, of its air transport system, which has been recently lashed together in Air Kazahkstan Group (AKG), in order to prevent it sinking under its debts. The situation at the old airport has been the subject of intense speculation over the last twelve months, with the suggestion that a criminal group had torched the terminal in a turf war between rival gangs. As in many other similar situations, there has been a tendency for government to address apparently intractable problems, simply by moving the airport. It is odd, however, that the announcement of the new airport came from the regional government of the former capital and not from Alexander Krinichansky, Head of government-owned AKG, which controls Almaty Airport. It is also strange that, in a country dominated by the president and his extended family, a project of this type is not being focussed on the new capital, in remote Astana, where a considerable proportion of the country's GDP has been spent in building a new capital city. A recent story from Almaty illustrates some of the country's problems. Dulat Kuanyshev, Chairman of Kazakhstan's Foreign Investment Agency, told journalists on 1st March in Almaty, that his country is seeking $50 m from the World Bank , to provide insurance for foreign investors against the “self-interest” of bureaucrats' and legislative anarchy. He presumably meant demands for bribes and frequently changing legislation. Several days earlier, Premier Qasymzhomart Toqaev had warned that shifts in government policy constitute a deterrent to potential foreign investment. Kuanyshev said that the government is hoping to attract $1.5-2 billion in direct foreign investment this year.

Article ID: 1651