Astana, 26 October. Ahead of Republic Day, new factories, a school of programming and artificial intelligence, a polyclinic, a railway station, a water pipeline and sports facilities were opened in Kazakhstan's regions, the Prime Minister's press service said, presenting the openings as the fulfilment of instructions from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The most notable digital opening is AQTOBE IT HUB in Aktobe, a centre teaching programming, robotics and artificial intelligence. At its core is Tomorrow School, a school of programming and AI for citizens over 18: tuition is free and follows the peer-to-peer model, in which students learn from each other by solving projects rather than listening to lectures. The programme lasts 18 to 24 months.
Three industrial plants were opened. In the Saryarka special economic zone in the Karaganda region, a full-cycle plant producing aluminium and bimetallic heating radiators started work. In the village of Temirlan in the Turkestan region, a 9-billion-tenge plant began processing cattle bones into fat and gelatine components, including peptone, a nutrient base used in biotechnology, microbiology and pharmaceuticals. In the same region, a 1.5-billion-tenge cottonseed-oil processing plant opened.
In the Mangystau region, a reconstructed railway station building of more than 9,000 square metres, 11 times larger than the old one, was opened; it is designed for 2,500 passengers a day and up to 4,000 in summer. In the village of Beskol in the Kyzylzhar district of the North Kazakhstan region, a polyclinic for 250 visits per shift, costing about 5.1 billion tenge, opened to serve more than 40,000 residents. In the village of Zharmukhambet in the Karasai district of the Almaty region, 51 km of water mains were laid and two wells drilled for 1.4 billion tenge.
Social facilities include a 50-pupil school in the village of Kystau-Kurshim in the East Kazakhstan region, replacing a 1975 building (the children have moved to a single shift), an indoor pool in the settlement of Shubarkuduk in the Aktobe region, already used by 84 children, an eco-park with 2.4 km of walking trails in the village of Akkayin in the Akmola region, and two new houses of culture.
What it means: The government reported on about a dozen facilities commissioned for the holiday, from industrial processing to village schools; for the digital agenda, the key item on the list is the free programming and AI school in Aktobe.
Who benefits: Residents of villages and district centres that now have a polyclinic, a school, piped water and a pool; adults who want to learn an IT profession for free; the Turkestan region, which can process farm produce locally instead of shipping it out. The statement does not say how many jobs the new plants have created.
Background: In his New Year address, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared 2026 the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence; opening IT centres in the regions is part of that drive.
