The organisers of the press conference “Protecting the Hippodrome as a Historic Architectural Monument” reported that in Almaty there are plans to demolish the hippodrome in order to build yet another residential complex. According to the media, an action group claims that the management of the complex is evicting tenants in order to transfer the land to a construction company for the development of a new housing estate.
According to civil activist Saltanat Tashimova, in 2023 the previous owner of the hippodrome discussed the possibility of moving the hippodrome out of the city and building a housing estate in its place. This plan caused discontent among many people involved in equestrian sports (horse riders) and public figures, while the city administration also did not support the idea.
After the change of ownership, the new owner refused to renew the lease agreements with the horse riders who opposed the relocation of the hippodrome. Now the public is convinced that the new owners also intend to use this land for development.
“The hippodrome is a unique and multifunctional place of interest not only for foreign tourists or visitors from the regions, but also for Almaty residents themselves. Recently there was the Nauryz celebration; just think about it: we have a hippodrome in the city, and there were none of our national shows with horses. There were no yurts or anything else. Nothing at all. Yerbolat Askarbekovich talks about the concept of polycentric city development, but it all remains just on paper. Yet the hippodrome could become a focal point for residents of the Turksib and Zhetysu districts. Why would they need to go to Panfilov Street if they had their own place with a unique show? Dana Meirbekova, a guide, is sitting here, and the pain of the entire tourism community is that we have nowhere else to show the colour of our people, except in restaurants like Sandyk,” the activist emphasised.
In turn, architect Emina Kuzhamuratova said that back in 2015, the owner of the hippodrome stated that the venue for equestrian competitions would close, and a shopping and entertainment complex, supermarket, and other facilities would be built on its site. However, public figures, horse riders, and hippodrome workers kicked up a fuss and appealed to the Almaty city administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the president with a request to buy it out and return it to state ownership.
In July 2015, activists managed to secure a decision to buy out and restore the “Almaty Hippodrome,” but soon Bauyrzhan Baibek was appointed the new mayor, and he cancelled the order. The facility remained in private ownership.
“As of 2022, the private owners of the hippodrome had taken no action towards its reconstruction. The public, city residents, hippodrome workers, and people involved in equestrian sports demanded that Mayor Yerbolat Dosayev finally buy the hippodrome into state ownership. Dosayev promised to instruct his deputy Arman Kyrykbayev (Baibek’s former deputy) to deal with the issue, but Kyrykbayev is supposedly always in meetings and does not receive those campaigning for the state to buy the hippodrome,” reported Emina Kuzhamuratova.
Horse rider Natalya Orlova has been raising and training horses at this hippodrome for 40 years. Now the owners are evicting her and other dissenting people involved in equestrian sports.
“They are simply forcing us out of there now. After the New Year, they refused to sign a contract with us because, as they themselves stated, we ‘ruined their plans.’ But we continue to pay 30,000 tenge per month for each horse. They took us to court, and the legal process is ongoing. The first hearing was in March. But we filed a counterclaim, and the hearing will be in April. And on 22 March at midnight, they brought in an excavator and dug a trench right in front of our stable, so the animals were trapped and couldn’t go outside. In the morning, we filled in part of the ditch. But that same day, they brought the excavator back and deepened the trench,” Orlova said.
Incidentally, just before the publication of this material, journalists were told that in response to the press conference, the hippodrome administrators had again dug a trench in front of the stables.