Four kilometres from Aktau, people live without running water, gas supply or electrical grids. The settlement of VSO-1, which originated in Soviet times as official housing for colony staff and military personnel, still has no official status as a residential area. As a result, residents have been without access to urban utilities for 20 years.
According to Inbusiness.kz, water is delivered to the settlement at a cost of 700 tenge per cubic metre, and electricity is paid for at commercial rates — 37 tenge per kilowatt-hour. Heating comes only from gas cylinders.
Meanwhile, there is no gas pipeline in the settlement, and contracts with utility services are arranged through third-party companies. According to villagers, an ambulance may not be able to reach them in an emergency.
Formally, the problem comes down to paperwork: on paper, VSO-1 is listed as an industrial zone. The local administration says it is ready to grant the settlement residential status as soon as it receives a complete set of documents from the residents themselves.
"As soon as residents hand over the necessary list of documents, we are ready to process all the paperwork. This matter is under our control. In fact, it is close to being resolved," said Aydinbek Uzakbayuly, head of the Aktau land relations department.
Against this backdrop of uncertainty, local residents have tried to solve problems on their own. They collected funds and purchased equipment to connect to the heating system. However, the villagers recently discovered that everything they had bought had been stolen, and they have no means to raise the money again.
Despite the administration's assurances that it is ready to resolve the issue, residents of VSO-1 continue to live in uncertainty, deprived of basic utilities.