A new city, Alatau, has been created in Kazakhstan in line with a presidential decree dated January 9.
According to the decree, the village of Zhetygen, Ili district, Almaty region, has been classified as a city of regional significance and renamed to the city of Alatau.
The new city is located 15 km from Almaty and has a population of 52.7 thousand residents.
The creation of the new city will allow to modernize road networks, engineering and social infrastructure, create new jobs, attract investments, develop entrepreneurial activity, and increase tax revenues, the Ministry of National Economy said.
At the same time, the Government of Kazakhstan has approved the decision to expand the territory of the local Special Economic Zone (SEZ) from 30 thousand to 96.5 thousand hectares and rename the G4 City SEZ to the Alatau SEZ. As a result, the entire territory of the city of Alatau and part of the nearby city of Konaev are now included in the territory of the SEZ.
The Alatau SEZ is expected to host more than 170 projects with the creation of 110 thousand new jobs, the ministry said.
The city of Alatau and its SEZ are planned to become a point for attracting domestic and foreign investments, an international business hub operating according to high world standards. The development of Alatau city will also allow to increase trade and investment interaction with China and Central Asian countries and launch new production projects. To this end, conditions and incentives will be provided for attracting investments and doing business in the new city and its SEZ, including tax and customs preferences.
