Withered Trees Instead Of Greenery: What Almaty Got After Sairan’s Costly Reconstruction

After Almaty spent 12 billion tenge reconstructing Sairan, a major lakefront recreation area in the city, many of the newly planted trees are already dead or drying out, Orda.kz reports.

The mass death of new plantings due to poor maintenance is a familiar problem in Almaty. But the large-scale transformation of Sairan, a major lake and recreation area in the city, was an image project for the authorities. It would seem that control over the condition of the greenery here should have been especially strict. In reality, the situation looks depressing.

An Orda.kz correspondent walked along the eastern side of Sairan on July 1, 2026 and saw many dead or dying trees.

The damage is visible across different parts of the area. Newly planted catalpas, willows, lindens, acacias and other young trees are either already dead or drying out. Withered trees can be seen almost along the entire shore, and signs of moisture shortage are visible even on species usually considered resistant to drought, including elms.

Some of the dead seedlings have damaged bark at the base. Since there is mowed grass nearby, it can be assumed that the bark was damaged during grass cutting with motor mowers, which may have caused the seedlings to die.

The irrigation system also raises questions. Automatic watering has been installed throughout the area, but in many places it does not appear to work. Some sections are still being watered, and drip irrigation is visible in parts of the territory, but the system is clearly not functioning evenly across Sairan.

Orda.kz requested a comment from the Almaty Akimat. The city authorities said the Department of Public Spaces Development had instructed the former contractor to bring the automatic irrigation system into working order.

To date, the system is functioning normally, providing 100% coverage of the irrigation area provided for by the project,the akimat said.

The city authorities explained previous irrigation problems by the lack of the necessary volume of water in the lake. Now, they say, Sairan is full, so there should be no problems with watering and all plants should receive enough moisture.

However, as of July 1, many trees had already died and are unlikely to recover, even with daily watering. Nevertheless, the akimat remains optimistic.

Additional forces and resources have been involved to restore green spaces on the territory of Sairan. Motor pumps are used to water the upper part of the slopes, and work is carried out at night using specialized equipment. These measures are aimed at maintaining the necessary level of soil moisture and ensuring moisture retention in the soil. To date, the irrigation system is working in full, and green spaces are being restored and brought into compliance,the press service said.

It will become clear in the coming weeks how effective the measures to restore the green spaces are. Orda.kz will continue to monitor the situation.

Original author: Danil Utyupin

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