Nazarbayevs’ Ushkonyr Plateau? Orda Journalists Checked

Recently, MP Maksat Tolykbay was unable to get to the fenced Ushkonyr plateau in Shamalgan. According to him, 15,000 hectares of state land are surrounded by armed guards. Orda journalists have visited the plateau to find out who owns the land and what is behind the fence.

Ushkonyr is a mountain pasture at the foot of the Ile-Alatau Mountains. It is not accessible to everyone. The road to the plateau begins from Alzhan Street in the village of Shamalgan, Nursultan Nazarbayev's hometown.

On both sides of the road are the mansions of the brother and sister of the former president: Bolat and Anipa Nazarbayev.

It is 16 km from the estate of the late Bolat Nazarbayev to the checkpoint, where Deputy Maksat Tolykbay was. The road there is smooth. It is noteworthy that a gas pipeline and an electric transmission line have been laid in the land’s center. You can see signs along the way saying "Careful, gas pipeline. Don't dig!"

Orda correspondents visited the checkpoint back in 2022. The situation has not changed: the road is still closed, there is a checkpoint in the middle of the mountains, and several red signs marking private territory. Our reporters did not see the armed guards, and the guards did not leave the checkpoint. Our reporters therefore tried to find out what was behind the barrier on their own.

By shooting from a drone, you can see that the road from the checkpoint stretches into the distance. Two structures are visible on the left side and nothing more. So why close the territory? Answer: a residence, helipads, and a lake.

According to Google Earth, there is a 2500 sq. m. villa with a huge garden, two helipads, and parking for dozens of cars 6 kilometers from the barrier.

There is also a small lake five kilometers from the villa. Satellite footage shows that the shore is set up for a beach holiday.

Who Owns The Residence?

A piece of land among the mountains is located next to the protected area of the Ile-Alatau State National Natural Park. Deputy Bakytzhan Bazarbek was the first to draw attention to the villa in the wilderness of mountain ranges in 2022. In his Facebook post, he claimed that the six-hectare plot of land belongs to Nazarbayev's nephew, Kairat Satybaldyuly.

There are many questions regarding the legality of the location of the site. How was one site for residential housing (individual housing construction) "planted" in the middle of agricultural lands and the protected area of the Ile-Alatau National Park? The villa, located on a plot of land with cadastral number 03-047-150-053 and intended purpose "for conducting individual housing construction," in no way borders on a populated area, he wrote.

According to paragraph 5.3 of Article 44 of the Land Code, the provision of land plots for residential housing is allowed on sites provided with water and electricity supply networks.

In settlements where there is no centralized water supply, the provision of such land plots is allowed only if there are power supply networks. From the wording in the above-mentioned Article 44 of the Land Code, it can be concluded that to provide a land plot for residential housing, the territory potentially provided for housing construction must be located within the boundaries of a settlement.

According to the AIS GZK database, this land plot is tied to the village of Shamalgan. If in the General Plan, combined with the DDP of the village of Ushkonyr, it turns out that this site, located 14 km from the village, entered the settlement, then you can safely put handcuffs on the architect along with the district akim of that period, Bazarbek writes.

The deputy also added that the specified site carefully bypasses the security zone of the Ile-Alatau National Park.

In other places, the security zone of the National Park is more than 10 kilometers, and in the location of the elite villa, the security zone narrows to two kilometers, and the erected villa turns out to be outside the security zone. The designers of this plan understood that the construction of an elite villa is not allowed in the protected area of the National Park, and something had to be done. I do not exclude that the specified land could be located within the boundaries of the National Park and then was withdrawn. Our task is to understand competently how and in what way the land was alienated. 

Deputy Bazarbek notably speaks about a land plot with cadastral number 03-047-150-053. Yet, the plan indicates another privately owned 0.5-hectare land plot on its territory with the number 03-047-150-054. And around the residence, there is 179.2 hectares of land intended for farming.

This year, Maksat Tolykbay, drew attention to the privatized lands. The footage with the deputy shows that villagers also arrived at the checkpoint. They said that the land in Ushkonyr was allocated to state farms in Soviet times. Uzynagash district residents used to graze cattle there.

Who Else?

Speaking with an Orda correspondent, Shamalgan village residents believed that the land in Ushkonyr belongs not only to Satybaldyuly but also to the late brother of the ex-president, Bolat Nazarabayev.

A document that Orda received confirms this. It turned out that 20 years ago, in 2004, the high-mountain pasture became the private property of Dunie-Agro LLP. The LLP belongs to a company affiliated with Bolat Nazarbayev's son, Nurbol, and his subordinate, Damir Kalibekuly.

By the decision of the former Karasay district akim, Bolatbek Kutpanov, a plot with a total area of 193 hectares was provided to Dunie-Agro for personal subsidiary farming.

During an inspection, the prosecutor's office revealed violations of the Land Code, namely, the transfer of a plot to a legal entity and its illegal size.

The Land Management Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture filed a lawsuit with the Karasay district Court for recognition of an illegal purchase and sale of a land plot on the Ushkonyr plateau.

Land plots for personal subsidiary farming may be privately owned by citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. But in this case, the site was transferred to Dunie-Agro LLP. In addition, the size of the presented land does not meet the standards. According to the law, 0.25 hectares of non-irrigated and 0.15 hectares of irrigated lands are allocated in rural areas for personal subsidiary farming. Thus, the provision was made in violation of the requirements of Articles 23, 50, 8 and 43, the explanation says.

But judge Azamat Chaltabayev refused to satisfy the claims. The basis for this decision was a donation agreement. The fact is that in December 2016, the owner of Dunie-Agro LLP transferred 1.4 hectares to the ownership of a third party — a certain Kanatbakov.

It is noteworthy that Azamat Chaltabayev has been affiliated with Bolat Nazarbayev in one way or another.

The district prosecutor's office has already filed an appeal against the decision of the court on the lands of Ushkonyr. The date of the court hearing has not been set.

Time will tell how this will end, whether the relatives of the ex-president will be punished in New Kazakhstan and whether Kazakhstanis will be able to enjoy the Ushkonyr lands.

Original Author: Silam Aqbota

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original piece in Russian for accuracy.