Farmland should not be built over: the Lieutenant Governor's position
At a meeting with residents of Kyzyl-Adyr, Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat said that converting irrigated arable land in the Kara-Buura and Talas valleys into housing plots should stop. No new rules were introduced.
Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat spoke on 26 October at a meeting with residents of Kyzyl-Adyr (Kara-Buura District). In his words, the conversion of arable land in the Kara-Buura and Talas valleys into housing plots should be stopped.
He cited this year's record harvest in the Chu and Talas basins, including 210,000 tonnes of potatoes, and recalled the value of land that has just produced a rich crop. He called it the government's position.
The Ministry of Economy has been asked to report on how much arable land has been converted into housing plots in recent years. No decree, ban or change to the conversion rules followed: the existing procedure, which is decided at district level, stays as it is for now.
Aibek Sadyr uulu, a farmer from Taldy-Suu, told the meeting that fields on the edge of the village near Kyzyl-Adyr are being sold for houses, although the irrigation canals still serve them.
For the Nurzhan shopper a harvest means, above all, market prices. Today at Dastgoh potatoes cost 2 som a kilo and apples from the Chu valley 3 som.
The Lieutenant Governor's words came as building permits in Talas rose by 13% while building costs rose by 18%, as the Talas Herald reported on 16 October. Builders and plot owners will have to find out what "stop" will mean in practice. The editors will follow developments.
