The editorial team at FBRK continues to cover the situation concerning the Bukharka channel in the Atyrau region. We have received official comments from local authorities.
Bukharka is one of the key channels in the Ural River delta, which for three centuries ensured the outflow of floodwaters into the Caspian Sea. In the 19th century, the river was even navigable and served as a source of income for local fishermen. Today, however, part of the river in the Kokarna microdistrict of Atyrau has almost completely dried up.
Earlier, the FBRK editorial team established that permission to build on the site where Bukharka once flowed was issued back in 2013. In May 2025, it became known that a hydraulic engineering structure had appeared, which had finally blocked the channel's bed.
The Atyrau Akimat, to which we initially sent an official request, distributed it among several subordinate bodies. The Department of Land Relations, Architecture and Urban Planning confirmed information about the allocation of a land plot of 0.075 hectares on 24th Street – the very place where Bukharka once flowed.
The plot was provided in May 2013 for the construction of a shop, a cafe-bar, and a tyre fitting centre. Formally, all documents are in order: there is a decree, an architectural planning brief from August 2021, and even an approved draft design. The Atyrau Department of Entrepreneurship and Agriculture provided us with a similar response.
However, on all questions regarding the fate of the channel itself, the city authorities refer us to specialised organisations – the Zhaiyk-Caspian Basin Inspectorate and the Atyrau branch of Kazvodkhoz.
The office of the Akim of the Kenuzek Rural District provided a more detailed response. There, they directly stated that the institution has "no legal grounds for allocating a land plot and issuing permits for construction in the bed of this channel", and that the matter itself falls outside their competence.
We were also told about what is already happening to people because of the channel's disappearance. Residents of the 'Spektr' horticultural society, it turned out, have been left without water for their plots. In this regard, the authorities were forced to urgently redirect water from the Peretaska canal, which partially filled the Bukharka tributary. Incidentally, this was reported last year.
On the recommendation of the city authorities, our editorial team sent an official request to the Atyrau branch of Kazvodkhoz, where they hastened to inform us that questions regarding the current state of Bukharka do not fall within the institution's competence.
As of today, the FBRK editorial team is awaiting an official response from the Zhaiyk-Caspian Basin Inspectorate. The question now is whether the specialised water authority will be able to give a more substantive answer, or whether the story of being passed from one institution to another will continue.
To be continued...