Oil-rich Kazakhstan soaring

Once a provincial Soviet town known for its fragrant apples and snow-capped mountains, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, is now engulfed in exhaust fumes and construction sites, an emblem of rapid progress choking on its own oil-fuelled economic boom.

With real estate prices soaring, the cost of living in Almaty has overtaken Los Angeles and Frankfurt to become the 30th highest in the world, up from 52 last year, according to a recent survey by international expat cost rating firm Mercer Human Resources.
But while the spread of wealth pleases many of the city’s residents, the less welcome side-effects of Almaty’s superheated economy have drawn attention at the highest levels.

“We are choking all the greenery in our city, we are going to lose our mountains,” President Nursultan Nazarbayev complained in April.

A country the size of Western Europe wedged between China and Russia, Kazakhstan is experiencing an unprecedented boom thanks to its oil reserves _ the highest proven anywhere in the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian region.

Parliamentary elections here Saturday are being billed as Nazarbayev’s chance to shake off previous allegations of electoral fraud and show that democratic reform is spreading hand-in-hand with economic progress.

Oil exports are set to grow dramatically in the coming years as new pipelines come on line, further fuelling the surge in construction and car sales that have come in their wake.

Brunei Times