Nur-Sultan to implement several investment projects

Astana Invest is implementing 87 investment projects in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. More than 888 billion tenge (US$2 billion) has been attracted for this purpose. The majority of the investments go to the city’s largest project, the Abu Dhabi Plaza. It is expected to be commissioned this year. The highest observation deck in Central Asia will be placed on the roof of this building at an altitude of more than 300 meters. A total of more than 590 billion tenge (US$1.3 billion) were allocated for the complex.

Eight major projects will be launched this year. A fleet of electric buses, new secondary schools and a bread factory are among them.

“Our city is young and fast-growing. Nur-Sultan is growing at a rate comparable to that of Abu Dhabi. It can be said that it’s among the top cities with growing populations. So the priority area where investors put their money into is real estate, construction and development. The second area, which is more or less interesting for investors, is transport and logistics. Indeed, we have good projects being implemented here,” said Yerzhan Baltayev, Chairperson of Astana Invest.

A lot of money is being invested in education as well. 44 projects worth more than 100 billion tenge (US$235.2 million) have already been implemented. And there’s a reason for such a trend. It is expected that by next year the number of students will increase by 25 percent. Thus, there are plans to create additional space for 38,000 students and almost 5,500 preschoolers. Several projects have already been taken up by investors from Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

“Per capita funding has been introduced in separate legislative initiatives for industries such as education. In fact, it was the decision of the government, including the Ministry of Education, which prompted many businesspeople to turn their attention to education not only as a social project, but also as a business project. So to date, about 35 of our projects are educational,” Baltayev added.

Nur-Sultan is one of the most attractive cities for investors. Last year alone, the Kazakh capital attracted over a trillion tenge and 81 percent of all investments come from small and medium-sized businesses. Experts say that the opportunities are much bigger than that, as the portfolio of attractive industries and the amount of foreign investments are increasing.

 

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova