December 23, 2022 – The Bulat Utemuratov Foundation, established by the leading Kazakhstani businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov, allocated over $80 million for several social infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan’s highly populous regions or areas devastated by natural disasters.
The Foundation allocated more than $60 million to build a school, a community center, and a passenger terminal to help improve urban living conditions in underdeveloped areas and provide more services to residents.
- Later this month the Foundation will open a stroke center at a hospital in the north of the country that will provide medical care and services for patients with cerebral vessel diseases.
- A school near Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana will host 1,500 students and is expected to open by September 2023.
- A new community center with facilities for sports, education, arts, entertainment, and co-working will open in the same town by March 2025.
- A passenger terminal at an international airport in the south of Kazakhstan will start operations by September 2024.
Separately, Verny Capital, the investment group in whose projects Bulat Utemuratov is the key investor, is allocating about $24 million to build two schools in the Almaty region to help overcome overcrowding and aging buildings. Each school will host 900 students.
Almaz Sharman, Chairman of the board at the Foundation, said:
“The Foundation and Verny Capital, both inspired by Mr Utemuratov, aim to contribute to Kazakhstan’s social infrastructure development with projects spanning from schools to housing to airports. Education and healthcare are among the causes of great importance to Bulat personally, and that’s why we are paying special attention to construction of new schools, renovation and equipping the stroke center. Next year we will continue to implement these projects, as well as consider new initiatives.”
The Foundation has a history of developing social infrastructure in Kazakhstan. In 2019 it initiated a project that allocated about $8.8 million to provide housing for multi-child families, families with disabled children and those whose houses were destroyed by natural disasters. A total of 390 families in 4 cities received accommodation. The reconstruction of the Almaty Botanical Garden was completed in 2020. As much as $15 million was allocated for the Garden’s restoration, which used modern materials and sustainable technologies, and introduced advanced irrigation, lighting, and video surveillance systems.
