Alatau, 26 October. The first stone has been laid for Iconic Complex, a mixed-use development that will be the first skyscraper in the new city of Alatau near Almaty: the project, worth more than $800m, comprises two towers 272 and 78 metres tall, the Prime Minister's press service said.
The towers will house offices, flats, a hotel, shops and public spaces. The general contractor is China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a Chinese state builder, and the architectural concept was drawn up by the American firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Construction is due to finish by the end of 2029. The complex is meant to be one of the anchors of a business district that Alatau is only now starting to build.
Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev attended the ceremony. He told the builders to keep to the deadline, meet seismic safety and energy-efficiency requirements, and bring in Kazakh companies and specialists. "We expect Iconic Complex to set a new standard for the quality of design and construction and to contribute to Alatau's development as a modern city," he said.
Alatau is a city where, on the initiative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a special legal regime is being introduced step by step: preferential conditions for investors and a separate system of governance. Part of that regime is an independent technical review of projects with foreign experts, which, according to the government, will be applied to complex buildings such as Iconic Complex.
To give investors somewhere to build, 35.3 billion tenge has been allocated from the reserve for 28 infrastructure projects, including the reconstruction of the Kokpa-1 substation, water supply facilities and road repairs.
A city whose first skyscraper has only just been started already has a project portfolio worth almost nine times as much as that skyscraper.
What it means: Alatau is getting its first high-rise, and it is meant to show investors that the new city's business district is being built for real rather than on paper: the contractor and the architect are firms with global names, and the deadline and requirements have been stated publicly.
Who benefits: The government, which is betting on Alatau as a place to attract investment under special rules; the Chinese contractor CSCEC and the SOM bureau, which get a large order in Central Asia. The deputy prime minister promised Kazakh construction firms and specialists a share in the project, but did not say how large.
Background: According to the government, fixed-capital investment in Alatau rose 1.6 times in the first nine months of 2026, to 70.3 billion tenge. The city's investment portfolio comprises 67 projects worth about $6.9bn, which the government estimates could create some 55,000 jobs.
