After years of waiting and delays, the fate of the Atakent exhibition complex has finally been decided. According to official information, renovation work will begin in 2026 and is planned to be fully completed in the third quarter of 2027, reports infohub.kz.
In response to a request from the editorial office, the Almaty Department for the Development of Public Spaces stated that the reconstruction project is currently at the stage of developing conceptual designs. After the project and estimate documentation is adjusted and a positive expert conclusion is received, a budget request will be submitted for the work. The cost of the project has not yet been disclosed.
Bostandyk district akim Azamat Kaldybekov explained that the territory of Atakent belongs to the city. Of the 54 hectares of the complex, 38 hectares are city land, while pavilions on the remaining plots are privately owned. "We will come in with a large project for the reconstruction of the territory itself. This will be a new project, it will cover the entire upper part, the eastern part of Atakent, closer to the Botanical Garden. This will be a comprehensive infrastructure, a comprehensive park," the akim said at a meeting with residents.
According to the new project, the old fountains will be repaired, alleys reconstructed, and lighting updated. New children's and sports grounds, a skate park, and a pump track will also appear. The area will be additionally landscaped and new small architectural forms will be installed, while existing trees are promised to be preserved as much as possible.
Discussions about the reconstruction of Atakent have been ongoing for several years. In 2018, part of the complex was returned to municipal ownership, and in 2022 the akimat again promised to start renovation. In 2025, the authorities presented a new project and planned to begin work, but the tender for 10.3 billion tenge was canceled after a prosecutor's office review.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle showed how the area at the entrance to the complex has changed. This is so far the first big step towards a large-scale reconstruction of the territory.