The regional center of Kazakhstan is built on the deserted coast of the Caspian Sea, once completely unsuitable for life. Until now, the population of the city of Aktau drinks desalinated sea water. In Soviet times, nuclear workers lived here, now oil workers mainly live here.
Overview
The city is located in the southwestern part of Kazakhstan, is the administrative center of the Mangistau region. Aktau was built in a desert area, according to a master plan developed by the Leningrad Design Institute.
Aktau (translated from Kazakh as a white mountain) the city has been called since 1991. For the first two years since its founding in 1961, it was the Aktau settlement. Then it was renamed Shevchenko in honor of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, who was serving a link in the middle of the 19th century in these places. The population of Aktau, especially the older part, sometimes uses the old name of the city in everyday life.
The city has the only seaport in the country, from which a ferry goes to Baku. In addition, dry cargo, crude oil and oil products are shipped from here. The railway station is located in the neighboring town of Mangystau - the Mangyshlak station, which is 20 km away. The international airport is 25 km away.
Natural conditions
The city has no natural fresh water deposits. Drinking and technical water for enterprises and the population of Aktau is produced by mixing distillate from evaporation plants with low-mineralized artesian water from the Kuilyus deposit. In Soviet times, in 1972, the world's first nuclear desalination plant was launched. Now it is shut down and the evaporators use secondary steam from the CHP plant.
The climate in the region is desert, with very hot summers - the temperature can reach +45 °C, and the ground heats up to + 70 °C. Videos are popular on the Internet when scrambled eggs are fried in a pan heated only by air. Vegetation requires artificial irrigation. The average temperature of the coldest month is January +1.4 °C, the hottest month is July +29 °C. The average annual temperature is +15.2 °C.
Getting Started
The history of Aktau began in 1948, when a small lighthouse was built on the Cretaceous Cape. It was demolished during the construction of residential neighborhoods. Simultaneously with the construction of the city, a new Melovaya lighthouse was built, which was placed on the roof of a residential building. In 2017, he turned 54 years old, the keepers of the structure - a family that has been following his work for a long time - lives on the top floor of the house. The lighthouse is a landmark of the city, since it is quite raresuch technical facilities are placed on residential buildings.
In 1956, an exploration party was sent to the Mangyshlak Peninsula to explore and refine the reserves of metal-phosphorus ores. In 1959, the directorate of the Caspian Mining and Metallurgical Combine under construction was organized at Guryev-20, Kazakh SSR. Then the territory of Aktau belonged to the Guryev region, now Atyrau. In the same year, a barge was flooded near Cape Melovoy, on the basis of which a pier was built. With the help of the local population of Aktau, the first adobe semi-dugouts were built, in which about 200 families lived. Building materials for the plant under construction and housing began to be delivered by sea. The urban-type settlement was named Aktau.
Foundation of the city
The village grew rapidly, shops, stalls were built, centralized water supply was organized. It became better with food, vegetables and fruits, which were brought by sea from Makhachkala. In 1961, the population of Aktau was 14,000 people, of which 8,350 worked in production. In 1963, it was given the status of a city, and in 1964, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Ukrainian poet, it was renamed Shevchenko.
In 1961, 3,500 sq. m of housing, almost 250 families moved from dugouts to comfortable apartments. Schools, libraries, cinemas were built, a railway was built to the plant. In 1970, the population of Aktau was 59,015. By 1971, the main part of the city and the base production were built.
Regional center
In 1973, Shevchenko became the administrative center of the newly formed Mangyshlak region. In the 1970s and 1980s, the construction of infrastructure continued, roads were built, and rail and air passenger transportation began. In addition to expanding production at the plant, a seaport, an energy plant, the largest plastics plant in Europe, a meat processing plant and other large enterprises were built. The population grew mainly due to the influx of specialists from other regions of the country.
In 1979, the population of the city of Aktau reached 110,575 inhabitants. In 1984, the first phase of the nitrogen fertilizer plant was put into operation, and in 1987 the enterprise began exporting mineral fertilizers. In 1989, 159,245 citizens lived in the city. In the last year of Soviet rule, the population of Aktau reached 169,000.
Years of Independence
The first years after the formation of independent Kazakhstan were hard for the city's economy. First, production volumes were reduced, and then many industrial enterprises were closed. By 1999, the nuclear desalination plant was shut down, the uranium quarry was mothballed, and the Mangistau nuclear power plant became bankrupt. The number of inhabitants decreased to 143,396 people. A large number of Russian-speaking specialists left the country, while another part of the residents moved to more prosperous areas.
In subsequent years, the population began to grow rapidly due to the development of the oilindustries. High oil prices and foreign investment have dramatically increased the supply of jobs. In 2016, the city recorded the maximum (185,353 people) in the history of the number of inhabitants. In 2017, the population of Aktau in Kazakhstan was 183,350.
