Wednesday, january 17, 2017 inside nation healthcare minister reports on new infrastructure development plan A2

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

NATION&CAPITAL

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edit: Sputnik Kazakhstan

Astana to celebrate 20th anniversary with grand cultural events

By Meruert Abugaliyeva

ASTANA – Kazakhstan is plan-

ning a rich, year-long cultural 

programme to celebrate the 20th 

anniversary of its capital. Perfor-

mances and exhibitions by the 

Vienna Opera, New York City Bal-

let, Grand Palais in Paris and Brit-

ish Museum and numerous events 

from 20 world capitals will enrich 

the festivities.

Minister of Culture and Sports 

Arystanbek Mukhamediuly spoke 

about the plan at a Mazhilis (lower 

chamber of Parliament) govern-

ment hour in December.

“The whole year will be dedicated 

to the 20th anniversary of Astana. 

One of the main events organised 

by the ministry will be the Parade 

of Capitals: 20 years of Astana – 20 

World Capitals international cultur-

al project, which contains cultural 

events from 20 capitals,” he said.

The project includes tours by the 

world’s leading performers, joint 

productions with foreign theatres, 

musicals, film production, exhibi-

tions, music and sports festivals 

and comedy shows.

The Astana Opera House and 

Beijing National Opera Theatre 

will stage “Turandot,” Giacomo 

Puccini’s last opera. Astana Musi-

cal will present “Notre Dame de 

Paris” with its authors Riccardo 

Cocciante and Luc Plamondon.

The events will include the pre-

miere of “My Happiness,” a six-

episode television series co-pro-

duced with Russian Channel One. 

Contemporary composer Karl Jen-

kins will present his new oratorio 

“Shine Astana,” dedicated to the 

capital. The Mariinsky Theatre and 

International Symphony Orchestra 

of the Silk Road will also perform.

City residents and guests will 

have an opportunity to attend four 

unique international exhibitions fea-

turing works from the State Tretya-

kov Gallery (Russia) and Great 

Mughals – History Artefacts exhibi-

tion (India), masterpieces from the 

Grand Palais (France) and A History 

of the World in 100 Objects from 

the British Museum collection.

The Eurasian Dance and Voice 

of Astana international pop music 

festivals will be among the interna-

tional offerings. Academy Award-

winning actress Dame Helen Mirren 

and theatres from France, Italy, Rus-

sia and Spain will attend the World 

Theatre Festival. The Spirit of the 

Dance, featuring modern ethnic mu-

sic and choreography, and the Uly 

Dala Ruhy national sports contest 

will be among the attractions. Those 

who lean towards humour will have 

a chance to attend the Astana Azil 

Star Fest and Bayrzhan Fest.

“All events organised for the 

celebration of the capital’s 20th 

anniversary are intended to en-

hance the image and tourist attrac-

tiveness of Astana and Kazakhstan 

and strengthen the cohesion and 

pride of the Kazakhstan people for 

the development of an independent 

Kazakh capital,” added Mukhame-

diuly.

New Astana pay-to-park system 

will increase available parking, 

decrease traffic, says passenger 

transport department chief

Staff Report

ASTANA – A new pay-to-park 

system to be launched in Astana 

this month should increase access 

to parking spaces, improve traffic 

flow and help create a culture of le-

gal, systematic parking, said head 

of the city’s Passenger Transport 

Department Bekmyrza Igenberdi-

nov.

Nearly 9,000 toll parking spaces 

have been put into operation Jan. 

15 across two zones – the intersec-

tion of Turan, Saraishyk, Orynbor 

and Syganak streets and intersec-

tion of Saryarka Street, Bogenbai 

Batyr Street, Republic Avenue 

and the embankment of the Yessil 

River.

The  first  30  minutes  of  park-

ing will be free of charge, while 

each next hour will cost 100 tenge 

(US$0.3) from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. 

Parking will be free weekends and 

holidays.

“By contributing your 100 

tenge (US$0.3) for an hour of 

parking, we all make our contri-

bution to the formation of a new 

culture for us – the culture of 

parking. As a result, we get roads 

without  chaos  and  traffic  jams, 

which means significant decrease 

in the number of road accidents. 

An ordinary driver wins, who no 

longer has to worry about his or 

her health and safety, safety of 

car and the future of our capital,” 

noted Igenberdinov.

The new parking tolls are part of 

the city’s broader efforts to mod-

ernise its transport system.

Igenberdinov said the project 

seeks  to  decrease  the  traffic  load 

by 20-30 percent by reducing the 

number of cars parked on roads for 

a long period, decrease the load of 

parking spaces by 40-50 percent, 

increase the demand for public 

transport by 15-20 percent and 

reduce traffic violations by 70-80 

percent, among other results.

“The  capacity  significantly  in-

creased,  traffic  jams  decreased. 

Now drivers do not drive round 

and  around  trying  to  find  a  place 

to park their car, when all those 

places were taken by numerous 

illegal taxi drivers,” he added, 

“When the project launches, we 

will  quite  soon  see  its  efficiency 

– drivers will not be leaving their 

cars for days, there will be a con-

crete understanding of the turnover 

of every parking lot. A car will be 

parking for an hour or two, which 

means one parking space will ser-

vice a minimum of four or five cars 

per day.”

People have a wide range of 

choice in the means of transport, 

according to him.

“There are many possible ways 

to get to work – personal transport, 

taxi, public transport or by foot,” 

he added.

“We have developed a clear-cut 

network of routes and we handle 

any load during a rush hour. It will 

cost 180 tenge (US$0.54) to a per-

son to take a bus to work and back 

home,” said Igenberdinov.

The toll parking introduced 

recently at the old train station 

serves as a successful example, 

said Igenberdinov, seeing an in-

crease of road capacity in the first 

two weeks since the project came 

into effect.

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edit: today

.kz