In cramped quarters and in resentment

When Semipalatinsk native Nurlan URANKHAYEV headed the new Abay region, the residents of the region hoped that their fellow countryman would be able to put an end to the chaotic construction that was spoiling the appearance of the city with a rich history, because before his appointment as akim, Nurlan Telmanovich headed the capital's urban development department for three years. What changed in Semey during those two years and nine months when the builder Urankhayev was at the helm of the region?

At the end of 2023, at a briefing at the Central Communications Service, Nurlan Telmanovich said that when the region was formed, out of 33 apartment buildings under construction, only three had legal grounds for construction.

"It is clear that they could all be torn down overnight. But we met them halfway, gave them time to bring the documentation into compliance with the law. Today, about 17 houses are still undergoing legalization procedures. But there are also houses that we sent for demolition, they are simply impossible to legalize," the head of the region shared at the time.

This is where people began to believe that their mayor would not bend to developers’ wishes.

But here’s the problem: for some reason, neither the court, nor the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate, nor the press service of the Akimat could provide information about the houses that, according to the regional akim, were to be demolished.

The other day, the deputy akim of the Abay region, Dimitry GARIKOV, said at a meeting with journalists that “about ten court decisions have been made to demolish illegally constructed objects.” But so far only one five-story building on Auezov Street has been demolished. It was built from used materials, which is prohibited by law. The developer admitted that he dismantled an abandoned house in Kurchatov and assembled it on the left bank of Semey.

Fighting developers who grossly violate the law is a good thing. But Semey residents were in vain hoping that Nurlan Urankhayev would find a way to deal with those who overdo it with dense construction, because he himself said five months after his appointment: “If it does not comply with the rules, they will not build. I told the developers: “You will bring the documentation into compliance, buy additional land for improvement, and only then will you build!” According to urban development rules, 40 percent of the site must be developed, the rest - playgrounds, landscaping, parking. And they take six hundred square meters and build a house on a patch! We will definitely move away from this…”

But they didn't go anywhere. During the economic collapse, local authorities gave away most of the parkland surrounding the civil war memorial, which is protected by the state, for the construction of an elite five-story building and cottages. Until recently, the memorial complex was separated from the nearest residential building by a narrow strip of miraculously surviving park. Last April, local residents couldn't believe their eyes: developers erected a high fence right next to the memorial complex. Behind it, in place of the destroyed vegetation, they dug a pit for a multi-story building.

When the noise started, it turned out that TOO OrgSmetaStroy had acquired permits before Urankhaev came to power, but even under him the Akimat did not consider it necessary to stop the construction. This is despite the fact that the density of development in this area is off the charts. High-rise buildings are being built close to each other. And the modest size of the land plot where yet another human anthill is being erected does not allow allocating 60 percent of it for playgrounds, parking lots and landscaping, as Nurlan Telmanovich mentioned.

The windows of the new high-rise will look out directly onto the memorial complex, popularly known as the “death car”. It is located near the very railway line where the prison cars of the brutal ataman Annenkov were parked in 1918. In severe frosts, tortured people languished and died in the frozen and drafty wooden cars for months. And outside, the mothers and wives of the prisoners with their children were on duty around the clock.

Saken SEIFULLIN also had to endure inhuman torture in the “death carriage”. This is described in one of the chapters of his autobiographical novel “The Thorny Path”. In 1977, the tragic events were immortalized in stone: a carriage on the rails, from the open doors of which silhouettes of exhausted, dying people are visible, and in front of them are the mournful figures of women with children. These are the ones the new residents will contemplate from their windows…

The residents of Semey also hoped that the regional akim, who grew up in Semipalatinsk, would find a way to deal with the businessmen who are obsessed with the idea of ​​churning out commercial high-rises on the site of the old buildings in the city center.

The burnt-out building of the Zoo-Vetinstitute, which housed a girls' gymnasium before the revolution, has been waiting for restoration for 39 years now. In 2018, the then Akim of Semey, Yermak SALIMOV, promised at a reporting meeting with the population that the current owner would restore it. And a couple of years later, an apartment building began to be erected right next to the 1873 building.

The piles of earth that formed after digging the pit were dumped right up against the wall of a historical and architectural monument of local significance! People were worried: would this lead to the destruction of the building? And in September of the same year, the owner, director of TOO “Semey Mall” Aidos KISAMENOV, reported to the emergency department of Semey that a deep crack had appeared in the wall and it was tilted. He also published the conclusion of an independent examination of JSC “KazNIIS” that the building could not be restored, so it had to be demolished. After that, the cracked wall collapsed, and the owner filed an appeal to the local executive authorities to exclude the building from the list of monuments of the East Kazakhstan region based on the conclusion on its technical condition.

After public intervention, an independent examination was conducted. Representatives of the Department of Reconstruction, Restoration of Architectural Objects of the Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture came to the conclusion that the building can be restored. But urgent work is needed to prevent further destruction. Based on this, the KSU "East Kazakhstan Institution for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage" sent a letter to the owner of the building - TOO "Semey Mall" - about the need to restore the building of the former girls' gymnasium in accordance with the current legislation of Kazakhstan.

From the beginning of the formation of the Abay region, local historians had no doubt that now it would definitely be possible to restore the most beautiful architectural monument. But the matter never moved from dead center.

The fate of the merchant's mansion at 187 Naimanbayev Street was also dramatic. The owner began to demolish it in the spring of 2021 in order to build another human anthill on the site of the old building. But local historians sounded the alarm. And the akimat took their side. However, even the intervention of the head of the East Kazakhstan region Danial AKHMETOV did not save the house from several attempts to destroy it. Clear signs of destruction did not prevent the old building from acquiring the status of a historical and architectural monument in 2023. After that, it was sold to a resident of Astana. And he ... filed a lawsuit against the akim of the Abay region Nurlan Urankhayev, demanding that the “illegal” resolution on including the house in the list of architectural monuments be canceled!

In January 2024, the specialized inter-district economic court ruled to dismiss the claim of a businessman who was eager to demolish the architectural monument. And in April of the same year, the house, protected by the state, collapsed even more. One of the walls of the building was demolished. The second floor almost completely fell out on the side, the roof sagged... But even such serious damage did not force the judicial authorities to change their initial decision. The appellate board also retained the status of an architectural monument for the merchant's mansion. But it is unlikely that after the decision comes into force, the businessman will rush to restore the building, which is like a bone in his throat...

The owner of the merchant's mansion on Mukhamedkhanov Street, 33, seems to have taken into account the experience of his predecessors. Before the New Year, he destroyed the old house, known from the scenes of the film "Botagoz", in two hours so that there was no talk of assigning it the status of an architectural monument. Nevertheless, the akimat suspended the demolition of the building. However, immediately after it became known that the akim of the Abay region Nurlan Urankhaev had been dismissed from his post, the owner finally wiped the long-suffering house off the face of the earth.

Deputy regional akim Dmitry Garikov admitted that he was shocked by the businessman’s cynicism:

- The demolition work resumed at the very moment when the maslikhat session was taking place to approve the candidacy of the new akim of the region! When we received the information, they again told us to stop the work.

Rumor has it that on the site of the demolished mansion in the TsUM area, where there is no room to swing a cat, the owner is going to build a multi-story building - a residential building or a hotel. And this on a tiny plot of land! However, Garikov said that this will not happen:

- We will try to buy this plot and create a park there!

All the problematic issues that were not resolved under Urankhaev, naturally, are transferred to the new akim of the region Abay Berik UALI. Time will tell whether he can cope with such a burden.

Milana GUZEEVA, photo by the author, Semey