Updated Thursday, December 11, 1997 at:
  NYC 7:11 a.m.    London 12:11 p.m.    Prague 1:11 p.m.    Moscow 3:11 p.m.
 

Little-Known Akmola Becomes New Kazakh Capital

Map of Kazakhstan. Look for "Aqmola."
 
  AKMOLA -- The little-known town of Akmola in
  northern Kazakhstan was officially inaugurated as
  the former Soviet republic's new capital on
  Wednesday.
 
  "We, the branches of the supreme state power,
  solemnly declare today that from Dec. 10 Akmola
  becomes the capital of our state," Kazakh President
  Nursultan Nazarbayev told a joint meeting of the
  government and parliament.
 
  Nazarbayev, who on Tuesday moved to Akmola from the
  old capital Almaty, predicted a great future for
  the new capital of the Central Asian state.
 
  "Akmola is one of the geographical centers of the
  Eurasian mainland," he said.
 
  "Economic, technological and information streams of
  the developing Eurasian mainland will come across
  our new capital in the 21st century."
 
  The president told Almaty residents in his farewell
  speech on Tuesday, before leaving the city: "Almaty
  will always be of primary importance...It will
  remain the golden cradle of Kazakhstan's
  independence and statehood."
 
  He has said Almaty will remain the country's
  financial, cultural and scientific center.
 
  Nazarbayev, who has ruled the country of 16.7
  million people with a firm hand since Soviet times,
  decided to move the capital in 1995.
 
  The plan has gone ahead despite one of the
  translations of Akmola's name from Kazakh -- "white
  grave." More favorable renderings include "white
  plenty" and "white shrine."
 
  Most government ministries are already working in
  Akmola, which is located 1,200 kilometers (750
  miles) north of Almaty. Members of the parliament
  arrived in Akmola after a more than 20-hour rail
  journey on Tuesday, the last group of officials to
  make the move.
 
  Officials give different reasons for the choice of
  a windswept town on a barren steppe which was
  founded in 1832 and was known as Tselinograd
  (Virgin Lands City) in Soviet times.
 
  Some say the capital should be relocated to the
  north to move power away from the Chinese border.
  Others point to Almaty's pollution and note that it
  is in the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains, an
  earthquake zone.
 
  Privately, officials say the idea is also intended
  to secure the vast country's north, populated
  mostly by Slavs rather than ethnic Kazakhs. Some
  Slavs would prefer closer ties with Russia.
 
  The new capital, though newly clad in shiny white
  plastic and red bricks, remains a typically
  Soviet-style place.
 
  The town of around 300,000 residents was hastily
  expanded in the 1950s and 60s with faceless
  low-rise tenements during an ultimately disastrous
  campaign to boost Soviet grain output by developing
  Kazakhstan's marginal steppe lands.
 
  Nazarbayev said that the construction of official
  buildings, launched only last year, had been
  completed. But bureaucrats and politicians moving
  to Akmola will face problems.
 
  Due to a lack of apartments legislators will live
  in the new capital without their families for the
  first few months, having to double up in twin rooms
  at dilapidated local hotels.
 
  Amenities as basic as telephone lines are scarce
  and cuts in electricity and gas are common.
 
  In front of the presidential palace in central
  Akmola, local residents shared different views on
  the new role for their once obscure town.
 
  "I do not think this will change my life greatly,"
  said ethnic Russian Vasily, 44, a street
  photographer and father of four. "I have not
  started earning more."
 
  "I am happy. This opens great opportunities for our
  children and grandchildren," said Nurlanu, 72, a
  Kazakh woman pensioner. (Reuters)
 

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