News

NEWS ABOUT AKMOLA (ASTANA)

May 06, 1998

New name for the capital: "Capital"

President Nazarbayev has issued a decree renaming the new capital of Kazakhstan from "AKMOLA" (translated from Kazakh as "WHITE GRAVE") to "ASTANA" (translated from Kazakh as "CAPITAL")

Friday, April 24, 1998 Published at 10:19 GMT 11:19 UK
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

New Kazakh capital facing TB epidemic

Reports from Kazakhstan say the new capital Akmola is on the verge of a tuberculosis epidemic.
ITAR-TASS news agency quoted local doctors as saying that up to twenty thousand people in the city and surrounding region now have the disease. The agency said that there is insufficient money in the local health budget to fund screening programmes and treatment, and that the number of beds allocated to TB patients has been halved over the past two years.

Tuesday, April 21, 1998 Published at 08:52 GMT 09:52 UK
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Head of Kazakh oil company sacked

Reports from Kazakhstan say that President Nursultan Nazarbayev has sacked the head of the national oil company, Kazakhoil Baltabek Kuandykov. Mr Kuandykov -- who has been in the job since last October -- is reported to have been replaced by the head of the state oil pipeline company KazTransOil Nurlan Kaparov.
No official reason has been given for Mr Kuandykov's removal but correspondents in the new Kazakh capital Akmola say President Nazarbayev is concerned at rising prices and falling export levels in the oil industry.

Saturday, April 18, 1998 Published at 09:49 GMT 10:49 UK
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Kazakh Interior Minister warns police of breach of duties

The Kazakh interior minister, Kairbek Suleymenov, has warned local law-enforcement officials that they will be punished for any breach of duties.
Speaking at a meeting of senior law-enforcement officials in Akmola, Mr Suleymenov said criminal groups had been influencing police officers.
He also expressed concern over the rise of the number of criminal groups in East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan regions.
A senior Interior Ministry official told the meeting that people had lost confidence in the police because of delays in investigations and the abandonment of criminal cases.

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 Published at 10:12 GMT 11:12 UK
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Kazakhstan wages war on mosquitoes

Reports from Kazakhstan say President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered emergency measures to try to rid the new capital, Akmola, of mosquitoes.
The city is situated in an area of northern steppe land which is prone to insect infestations in the summer. Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency says the president wants Akmola to be mosquito-free in time for its official inauguration as the new capital on 10th June.

Wednesday, December 10, 1997 Published at 15:36 GMT
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

New capital for Kazakhstan

The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has officially inaugurated the new capital, Akmola.
Mr Nazarbayev read out the declaration to a joint session of government and parliament, saying that for the first time this century Kazakhstan was making its own decisions.
Correspondents say President Nazarbayev decided to move the official seat of the Kazakh government from Almaty, in the south-eastern corner of the vast country, because he was worried about keeping full control of the
largely-Russian-speaking north.
But they add that the move to Akmola -- on a barren, windswept steppe with winter temperatures of minus forty -- is far from universally popular.
Especially as few of the promised new buildings are finished and electricity supplies remain erratic.