In Uralsk, 59 families affected by the floods have been moved into a new building that still has no gas, hot water or heating.
According to the publication “My City”, local residents moved into the apartments on 17 September. They were promised gas and heating would be connected by the end of the month, but this has still not happened.
The flood victims are now forced to stay in their apartments wearing hats and coats. At the same time, they are using electric heaters, which run around the clock and consume a large amount of electricity.
“We moved in, and we were promised that gas, heating and hot water would be connected in two weeks. Nothing has been connected yet. We contacted the akimat, and they sent us to the housing and communal services. The housing and communal services said our building is no longer on their books and sent us to the developer. The developer feeds us promises every day that it will be connected ‘tomorrow’. And so it goes every day. We were told they would make an exception for our building and gas would be connected earlier, not when 70% of apartment owners have moved in. We all have three or four children each. My daughter is only a month old. She lies wrapped in blankets. We have electric heaters in every room. Then let them compensate us for what we are spending on heating. Everyone has already accumulated 30-40 thousand tenge. And in this building, 59 families were given apartments, all of them flood victims”, said Asel Isseva, a resident of the building.
Meanwhile, the deputy akim of Uralsk, Zhandos Duisengaliyev, commented on the situation, explaining that the building is commercial, and part of its apartments were purchased for flood victims. The developer is SVS Batys LLP.
“Half of the building’s residents have already moved in, the other half is still empty; the developer hasn’t sold the apartments. These apartments lack boilers, and QazaqGaz Aimaq refuses to connect the building to the gas supply; it is unsafe for people’s lives. Today, 21 October, we spoke with the management, and this issue will be resolved shortly”, Duisengaliyev explained.
The head of the Department of Energy and Housing and Communal Services of the West Kazakhstan Region, Miras Mulkay, reported that the gas supply in the building would only be connected after plugs are installed in the empty apartments.
It is worth recalling that in July, Prime Minister Bektenov held a meeting on the restoration of housing and infrastructure after the floods, where he noted that some regions were 15-25 days behind schedule. Later, he visited the west of the country to inspect the progress of building houses for flood victims.
At the same time, it was reported that the government of Kazakhstan had additionally allocated 22.7 billion tenge from the emergency reserve to eliminate the consequences of the floods and restore destroyed infrastructure facilities.
It was noted that the funds would be directed to akimats for the restoration and construction of roads and bridges, as well as culverts in the Akmola, Aktobe, Kostanay and North Kazakhstan regions.
Also, the government reported that after the floods, 12 billion tenge was allocated from the reserve to compensate businesses for property losses.
Furthermore, Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev presented a table with the names of entrepreneurs and the amounts of financial aid to regions affected by the floods.