ALMATY/APRIL 19 2024 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh Pres. Kassym Jomart Tokayev ordered Kazakh billionaires to pay for reconstruction projects in the north and west of the country after the worst flooding in living memory.

He told people who had fled their homes in the Kostanay region that the richest Kazakhs would be assigned a region to fund.

“We have very large entrepreneurs who are on the Forbes list. We will have a conversation with them and assign each region, district, village to answer by name,” he said, making a reference to the Forbes Rich List.

Snow in Kazakhstan’s mountains and on its steppe melted quicker than usual at the end of March because of high temperatures, bursting rivers and overwhelming dams. 

Kazakh emergency workers have said that they have now evacuated more than 117,000 people from their homes. Uralsk, near the border with Kazakhstan, is one of the most recent cities to flood.

Floods have also hit Russian cities in neighbouring southern Siberia.

Mr Tokayev has previously forced wealthy Kazakhs to fund reconstruction projects. In 2022, he forced Kazakhstan’s wealthiest men to pay for the reconstruction of the country after mass protests.

The protests undermined the power and influence of his predecessor as president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Many Kazakh billionaires owe their wealth to Mr Nazarbayev’s regime, which analysts have said was a kleptocracy.

Kenes Rakishev, a businessman, closely associated with Mr Nazarbayev, has pledged 1.2b tenge ($2.7m) to rebuild cities after the floods.

Mr Tokayev has already cancelled the high-profile Astana International Forum and he has now said that he wants to reduce the budget of the World Nomad Games, which Kazakhstan is hosting in September.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 565 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 23 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024