A conflict is escalating in Kostanay Region over the Yubileyny dacha community: 197 plots are being seized for state needs, and 220 people could be left without homes. Residents fear the offered compensation will not allow them to buy equivalent housing, reports infohub.kz.
According to resident Yelena Sachava, she is offered 12 million tenge, but in return not an apartment but a dormitory room of 17.5 square meters. Her family has eight sotkas of land and a house of over 70 square meters that is only 14 years old. "It's very sad, we want equivalent housing to be provided," Almaty.tv quotes her as saying.
Georgy Chebotov, chairman of the dacha community, noted that people live year-round in 70 houses. According to locals, the compensation offered by the akimat is not enough to buy even a one-room apartment. A total of 220 people are under threat of eviction, many of them families with small children.
Chebotov also raised the issue of electricity supply: the power lines feeding the plots will be demolished. The dacha residents agree with the road construction but are worried about the fate of the remaining plots and summer cottages. "They said they would consider it, but when, how, and by whom? That's directly up to akimat employees: if you take part of a plot, and the dacha residents agree, then do the paperwork at your own expense, or assign a staff member," Almaty.tv quotes him as saying.
The akimat of Kostanay Region explained that the seizure is related to the need to expand the microdistrict and develop infrastructure. Regional akim Qumar Aksakalov stated: "A school is needed, the microdistrict is large. There is a lack of social infrastructure that is being built there. Therefore, we are deciding to build a school. The microdistrict is developing, roads need to be built, so we have to seize plots, including industrial ones."
If the akimat does not change its approach to assessing compensation, the dacha residents will likely have to defend their rights in court.