In Aktobe, residents and eco-activists raised the alarm after noticing the felling of more than 100 trees in the triathlon park. Police have opened a criminal case, reports infohub.kz.
According to the TV channel, the triathlon park in Aktobe is one of the busiest places in the city, where people relax and play sports. When local residents reported the tree felling, officials reacted. It turned out that the green spaces were to be cleared on a private plot adjacent to the park. However, the boundaries were overstepped, and more than 100 trees growing on state land were cut down.
“They have a total area of 1.1 hectares, of which 4,000 square meters is not being developed. They started clearing and went beyond their boundary—this amounted to 3,000 square meters of city land, and more than 100 trees have been destroyed so far,” explained Askat Iskakov, director of the Center for Urbanism and Land Monitoring in Aktobe.
As a result, officials filed appeals with the environmental prosecutor's office and the police. “The city police department No. 1 of the Aktobe city police department has registered a criminal case under Article 340, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This article stipulates illegal felling, destruction, or damage to trees and shrubs. The progress of the criminal investigation is under the control of the police leadership,” said Muratbek Nurmaganbetov, head of the inquiry department of the city police department No. 1 in Aktobe.
Residents are outraged by the felling of green spaces. The environmental situation, they say, is already not the best, and every destroyed tree causes enormous damage to the city's ecology. “I believe that cutting down trees in our city is absolutely wrong, especially in the triathlon park. This is the only place saturated with oxygen, and everything is made for people,” noted city resident Dinara Kurganbayeva.
For what purposes the private owner was clearing the territory is still unknown. The city administration noted that the company had not applied for any permits, for example for construction.