On 6 November the Kazakh government summed up the Alatau City European roadshow. After London, which we covered in our piece on British schools and healthcare, the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev held talks in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main. According to the government, the German leg produced 18 agreements with an investment potential of $715 m, and the whole tour a package of 27 commercial documents with a potential of over $2 bn.
In London, schools and healthcare took centre stage. In Germany something else stood out, the part an apartment buyer rarely notices until it breaks: water, energy and the money to pay for engineering infrastructure.
Berlin: water, energy and a medical centre
Eleven agreements were signed in Berlin, covering industrial production, mechanical engineering, construction, medical infrastructure, urban security and unmanned technologies. With Henkel, SVEVIND Energy, Textima, the German Energy Agency dena and other companies, the delegation discussed localising production, developing energy and water infrastructure, and creating a multidisciplinary medical centre.
With Levin Holle, adviser to the German Federal Chancellor, the talks turned to a Kazakh-German investment and finance platform, with Alatau City’s infrastructure and industrial projects proposed as its pilots. A separate topic at the meeting with the BDI industry federation was modern construction technology and energy-efficient solutions.
Frankfurt: finance for equipment
Frankfurt was about money. Alatau City Authority and Alatau City Bank signed agreements with the German financial institutions AKA Bank and KfW, Germany’s state-owned development bank. The documents provide for financing investment projects and buying German equipment.
Talks were also held with the pump maker WILO, Myron AG, Schneider Group and others. The topics included engineering and service infrastructure, medical device manufacturing and asset tokenisation.
Why this matters to residents
This autumn residents of Gate City have already dealt with power and water outages. They say the kitchens in the complex run on electricity, so an outage brings daily life to a halt as well. In new neighbourhoods, reliable networks matter as much as the building itself.
Water and energy were named outright among the topics of the German talks, and the Frankfurt agreements concern buying equipment. But for now the link is indirect: the announcements do not say the money will go to the networks of any particular residential district. If such projects appear, they will be the most practical part of the tour for residents.
What does not exist yet
Read the word “potential” in that $715 m literally. It does not describe loans already issued or construction already under way. The published statements do not give the address of the medical centre, the parameters of the water and energy projects or their start dates. Nor do they say which specific facilities AKA Bank and KfW will finance.
What this means for apartment buyers
- Ask about networks, not investors. Find out from the developer which substation and water main serve the building and whether there is spare capacity. That matters more than any memorandum.
- Do not pay extra for “a German medical centre nearby”. Until the project’s address is announced, a promise like that in an advert is a reason to ask for a document.
- Ask about energy efficiency. Modern construction technology and energy-efficient solutions were discussed with BDI, but these are not yet requirements for new buildings. Check the energy-efficiency class of the specific building with the developer.
- Wait for specifics. We will report when the KfW agreements have project names and deadlines attached.
Sources: Government of Kazakhstan: Alatau City concludes European roadshow with investment potential of over $2 bn, Government of Kazakhstan: 11 agreements on the development of Alatau City signed in Berlin, Alatau City Authority: Alatau City Concludes European Roadshow