On 2 November London hosted the Alatau City Investment Roundtable, the first stop of the city’s European roadshow. The delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev. According to the Government of Kazakhstan, representatives of more than 70 companies, banks and funds attended, and 9 agreements with a combined investment potential of $1.3 bn were signed.
The headline number is large, but a home buyer learns more from what was actually agreed. Three of the topics touch everyday life in the city: schools, healthcare and utility networks.
Schools: British curricula on top of the Kazakh standard
The agreements provide for working out projects for educational institutions with the University of Exeter, Brighton College and Repton Group. Separately, Qazinform reported on 4 November that the delegation met Magdalen College School to discuss an international-standard school in Alatau, British curricula and joint teacher training.
Bozumbayev had described the teaching model on 27 October: Kazakhstan’s state standard combined with international content. For parents this detail matters. A school built this way would give a child a Kazakh certificate, so the child does not drop out of the local system when moving or applying to a university in the country.
Healthcare
Cooperation with AstraZeneca and Crescent Meditours covers medical infrastructure, investment and scientific exchange. No specific hospital, clinic or address has been named yet.
Networks: money for power, water and roads
For people already living in Alatau, the most practical part of the trip involved no signatures. The delegation discussed with UK Export Finance, the British export credit agency, how to fund energy, transport and utility projects through export credits and state-backed guarantees. Similar talks were held with the London Stock Exchange, J.P. Morgan, Brookfield, Société Générale and the EBRD.
This links directly to the cuts we covered in our piece on power and water in Gate City: daily life in new districts depends on the networks, not the façades.
What the agreements do not include
It is easy to overrate this news. “Working out projects” is not construction. None of the British schools has a plot, an opening date or a fee level yet. Locations should become clearer with the master plan, which the British firm Arup is preparing; approval is planned for the end of 2027.
Bozumbayev also said the city will be built compactly: infrastructure goes first to existing growth points, with work, home, school and hospital within walking distance.
What this means for apartment buyers
- Do not pay extra for a promise. If a seller says “a British school will be next door”, ask for a document with the plot address. Nobody has one yet.
- Look at facilities that already work. School No. 20 in Gate City is open with 1,550 places, and the QAIST university is being prepared in Golden District. A block with a working school is a safer bet today than one with a promised school.
- Think about rentals. An international school is the first question for a foreign specialist relocating with a family. If such schools open, demand for family rentals will rise first in the streets around them.
- Watch the Arup master plan. Compact development means districts will grow unevenly. The growth points in the plan will show where infrastructure arrives first.
The next stage of the roadshow is Germany. We will report when the British schools get plots and dates.
Sources: Government of Kazakhstan — 9 Alatau City agreements worth $1.3 bn signed in London (in Russian), Qazinform — School with British educational programs may be established in Alatau city, LS — Alatau to become an international-level city (in Russian)