Qantar's Echo: Cost to Restore Media Center Amounts to 20 Billion Tenge

The restoration of the Kazakhstan media center, heavily damaged during the tragic January 2022 events known as Qantar, is nearing completion, Orda.kz reports.

According to Almaty’s Akimat, 60% of construction and installation work on the Republic Square's RTRK Kazakhstan media center is complete. The project is expected to be fully finished by December 2025.

Funding for the construction by 93.3% is carried out at the expense of the city budget (22.2 billion tenge). The work is planned to be completed in December 2025as outlined in a progress report delivered by Almaty Akim Yerbolat Dosayev to President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev in April. 

The rebuilt media center will reportedly house TV studios, sound stages, editing rooms, and business event spaces:

The technical equipment will make it possible to produce television and film content at an international level and develop digital formats. It will be a modern, high-tech media center that meets international standards.

The original RTRK building, along with the Almaty Akimat, caught fire during the January unrest. Security footage captured the moment a group of individuals, after pausing to pray, broke open steel shutters, assaulted staff, looted equipment, safes, and set the studio on fire.

Parts of the attack were later featured in documentary footage on the January events in Kazakhstan (link to video above).

RTRK Kazakhstan, the country’s first national television channel, has been on the air since 1958. This is not the only major public building undergoing reconstruction after the 2022 unrest — the restoration of the Almaty Akimat building alone cost 17 billion tenge.

Following his recent visit to Almaty, President Toqayev instructed Akim Dosayev to provide twice-monthly updates on the city’s development progress.

Original Author: Alexandra Mokhireva