ALMATY (KAZAKHSTAN): The plight of a city in Kazakhstan that went without heat for more than a week with temperatures that plummeted to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) has sparked anger and highlighted the state deplorable infrastructure of the country dating from the Soviet era.
This month, the city of Ekibastuz in the northeast of the country, with a population of around 150,000, fell into a freezing hell, underlining the disastrous consequences of power cuts in winter, when the European countries are struggling with shortages due to Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
Ekibastuz housed a Soviet-era prison camp where writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned between 1950 and 1953.
The camp became the inspiration for Solzhenitsyn’s classic novel “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”.
Footage released in Kazakhstan in recent days showed long icicles forming inside apartments as residents burned whatever they could find for warmth.
Crews had to work day and night to repair water pipes that had burst due to the cold.
On November 28, authorities declared a state of emergency in Ekibastuz after a malfunctioning thermal power plant left several neighborhoods without electricity and heating.
The state of emergency was lifted on Thursday and the situation has gradually improved, but the issue has sparked outrage across the country.
Dimash Kudaibergenpopular Kazakh singer with nearly four million Instagram followers, said officials should pay for the “tears of mothers left on the streets”.
“I think all the perpetrators, starting with the head of the thermal plant, should be held accountable and serve their sentence in a prison with no heat,” he said.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who saw deadly protests erupt over rising fuel prices in January last year, sacked the local governor and dispatched senior officials to the scene.
The city’s fate has sparked an outpouring of support, with residents of Kazakhstan collecting donations and sending heaters and blankets to Ekibastuz.
Funds have even been raised in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which itself is suffering from power cuts.
The Ekibastuz ordeal is just the latest in a long list of accidents involving thermal infrastructure in this vast Central Asian country.
Kazakhstan’s energy system, inherited from the Soviet Union, is still dilapidated despite investment.
“As we say here, the first time is a accidentthe second time is a coincidence, but the third time is a rule,” energy expert Zhakyp said. Khairushev told AFP.
According to government data, heating plants were built on average more than 60 years ago under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
Khairushev said more than 1,000 emergency shutdowns had taken place at thermal power plants since the start of the year.
President Tokayev lamented that the oil-rich nation is “one of the most energy-intensive countries in the world” and dependent on imports from Russia.
To meet the high demand, power plants must operate at full capacity, which increases the risk of accidents.
Khairushev said the recent expansion of the power-hungry crypto mining industry is adding to the risks.
Twenty-two of Kazakhstan’s 37 thermal power plants are in private hands, and Tokayev said he was considering nationalizing a number of assets.
Many have blamed the latest accident on tycoon Alexander Klebanov, owner of the Ekibastuz power station.
Klebanov, described by Forbes as the 15th richest man in the Central Asian country, denied responsibility.
In a video statement, he said he repeatedly warned authorities about the condition of the plant.
“But as a private company, we can’t raise consumer prices,” he said. “So the business hasn’t been profitable from the very beginning.”
Khairushev struck a similar note.
“The existing infrastructure is deteriorating,” he said.
“If urgent measures are not taken, including the revision of tariffs, then, unfortunately, such accidents will not be uncommon.”
This month, the city of Ekibastuz in the northeast of the country, with a population of around 150,000, fell into a freezing hell, underlining the disastrous consequences of power cuts in winter, when the European countries are struggling with shortages due to Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
Ekibastuz housed a Soviet-era prison camp where writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned between 1950 and 1953.
The camp became the inspiration for Solzhenitsyn’s classic novel “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”.
Footage released in Kazakhstan in recent days showed long icicles forming inside apartments as residents burned whatever they could find for warmth.
Crews had to work day and night to repair water pipes that had burst due to the cold.
On November 28, authorities declared a state of emergency in Ekibastuz after a malfunctioning thermal power plant left several neighborhoods without electricity and heating.
The state of emergency was lifted on Thursday and the situation has gradually improved, but the issue has sparked outrage across the country.
Dimash Kudaibergenpopular Kazakh singer with nearly four million Instagram followers, said officials should pay for the “tears of mothers left on the streets”.
“I think all the perpetrators, starting with the head of the thermal plant, should be held accountable and serve their sentence in a prison with no heat,” he said.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who saw deadly protests erupt over rising fuel prices in January last year, sacked the local governor and dispatched senior officials to the scene.
The city’s fate has sparked an outpouring of support, with residents of Kazakhstan collecting donations and sending heaters and blankets to Ekibastuz.
Funds have even been raised in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which itself is suffering from power cuts.
The Ekibastuz ordeal is just the latest in a long list of accidents involving thermal infrastructure in this vast Central Asian country.
Kazakhstan’s energy system, inherited from the Soviet Union, is still dilapidated despite investment.
“As we say here, the first time is a accidentthe second time is a coincidence, but the third time is a rule,” energy expert Zhakyp said. Khairushev told AFP.
According to government data, heating plants were built on average more than 60 years ago under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
Khairushev said more than 1,000 emergency shutdowns had taken place at thermal power plants since the start of the year.
President Tokayev lamented that the oil-rich nation is “one of the most energy-intensive countries in the world” and dependent on imports from Russia.
To meet the high demand, power plants must operate at full capacity, which increases the risk of accidents.
Khairushev said the recent expansion of the power-hungry crypto mining industry is adding to the risks.
Twenty-two of Kazakhstan’s 37 thermal power plants are in private hands, and Tokayev said he was considering nationalizing a number of assets.
Many have blamed the latest accident on tycoon Alexander Klebanov, owner of the Ekibastuz power station.
Klebanov, described by Forbes as the 15th richest man in the Central Asian country, denied responsibility.
In a video statement, he said he repeatedly warned authorities about the condition of the plant.
“But as a private company, we can’t raise consumer prices,” he said. “So the business hasn’t been profitable from the very beginning.”
Khairushev struck a similar note.
“The existing infrastructure is deteriorating,” he said.
“If urgent measures are not taken, including the revision of tariffs, then, unfortunately, such accidents will not be uncommon.”
