Big Almaty River Repairs: Activist Challenges Eight-Billion Tenge Project

On the morning of September 22, activist Sanzhar Bokayev posted a video of himself walking along Big Almaty River with a ballpoint pen, using it to test the quality of river repairs. Orda.kz reports on whom Bokayev was addressing, and how the authorities responded.

The dispute over Big Almaty repairs has taken on the flavor of a rap battle: on one side, activist Sanzhar Bokayev; on the other, Almaty authorities and the contractor, Pavlodar River Port (PRP).

Last week, Bokayev posted a video showing granite slabs removed from the river and allegedly sent to a tombstone workshop. Almaty Akim Darkhan Satybaldy even responded to this and promised to involve law enforcement.

But even before Satybaldy’s statements, Miras Gaisin, head of the Almaty Department of Ecology and Environment, recorded a video response to Sanzhar Bokayev.

He argued, such things proved shoddy repairs and a waste of the eight billion tenge allocated for the project.

By early afternoon, an Orda.kz journalist arrived at the site. At first, there was little activity — some workers were napping in the shade — but after lunch, construction resumed, with grinding, hauling, and other work underway.

There were not many workers at the collection point itself, but this may be because 160 PRP employees are working along the 5.7-kilometer stretch where the repairs are actually taking place.

Overall, the site appeared functional: some sections dismantled, debris scattered, tiles neatly stacked elsewhere.

But let’s return to the back-and-forth between Bokayev and the authorities and the contractor.

The activist’s complaints were addressed — though to a lesser extent — by Miras Gaisin, and more extensively by Sergey Zhitinev, a representative of Pavlodar River Port. So what did they say? 

The Granite Slabs

According to Sergey Zhitinev, some of the granite slabs from the Big Almaty River were indeed stolen — but certainly not by employees of Pavlodar River Port. He said he does not know who was responsible, and police, already contacted by the contractor, will investigate.

On how the thieves managed to access the fenced-off riverbank, Zhitinev explained:

The canal itself is 5.7 kilometers long. Our organization maintains it, but the human factor still exists, and theft, unfortunately, does occur. This is commonplace, not just in our project. Many contractors working in Almaty are familiar with this problem.

In addition to the theft, Bokayev also claimed that the slabs had been replaced with concrete above Al-Farabi Avenue. Zhitinev, echoing Miras Gaisin, responded that the slabs were moved downstream, where they had been missing.

Here, most of the slabs were already partially missing — only about 15% remained on the barrages. Their appearance was generally unsightly. Therefore, these granite slabs were removed from here and used further downstream, where they were missing,said a PRP representative. 

Zhitinev emphasized that installing new granite slabs on the Big Almaty was not part of the project, and if it had been, costs would have risen.

However, as Gaisin noted, certain works in the riverbed were also not originally planned but were nonetheless carried out.

Rubber, Foam, and Concrete

The concrete laid above Al-Farabi in place of granite is not bare but covered with waterproofing. In his video, Bokayev easily scratched it with a pen.

Zhitinev described the pen as “a very sharp object,” noting that the coating, like any paint, needs time to harden.

The curbs, whose fragments Bokayev also lifted with his pen, had been recently laid and, according to Zhitinev, were broken by asphalt pavers about a week earlier.

PRP promised they would be repaired.

Another feature in Bokayev’s video was the polyurethane foam used to seal joints between the concrete barrages and their gates.

Zhitinev confirmed the foam was there, but said it was only temporary:

This is a temporary measure for 24 hours. After that, special rubber gaskets are specified in the design. From now on, all these hydraulic gates will operate normally.

When an Orda.kz journalist asked whether the foam would be gone the next day (if it was only a 24-hour temporary measure), a representative of the contractor replied that it would not be removed tomorrow, but would be within a month.

According to Zhitinev, the cement that had fallen off the riverbed was also a result of hydraulic testing. He said it had bulged in only two or three places.

Technical supervisors had recorded the defect, which would be corrected. When an Orda.kz journalist asked the supervising organization whether they had complaints, its representatives said they had no critical remarks.

In fact, both Gaisin and PRP noted that repairs on Big Almaty are only about 40% complete, meaning it is too early to evaluate the work. Completion is expected in the summer of 2026.

That said, PRP had also been responsible for reconstructing the Sayran lake, which was scheduled for completion by May 2025 but remains unfinished. On September 1, the Almaty Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court, following a lawsuit from the city’s Department for Public Space Development, ruled PRP an unscrupulous contractor.

According to Gaisin, even with such a status, the contractor is still able to complete work on other projects, including Big Almaty.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin