Aktau

Aktau (Kazakh: Ақтау, Aqtaw; Russian: Актау, Aktau), until 1992 Shevchenko (Russian: Шевченко) is a city in Kazakhstan's Mangyshlak Peninsula and country's only seaport on the Caspian Sea. It is the capital of Mangystau Province in the western Kazakhstan. Aktau literally means "white mountain" in Kazakh, so named after the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Aktau has a block system - that's why streets of the city have no names and all addresses in Aktau consist of three numbers: the microdistrict (block) number, the building number and the apartment number. This is because the town was settled first to be the camp of the workers of oil industry from another parts of the country.

1 History
2 Transport
3 Climate and leisure
4 Sights
5 Aktau city project
6 Sister Cities
7 External links
8 References

History

The territory of Aktau was once resided by ancient tribes of Scythians. Current archeological finds are the demonstrations of old settlements and utensils. Aktau was built in 1961 as a small village after large amounts of crude oil was discovered in the region. In 1963 Aktau gained status of city. From 1964 to 1991, city was named Shevchenko to honour the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, who was once sent away to this remote location because of his political separatism . The name Aktau was brought back in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed and country took its independence. Aktau was once the site of a nuclear power station. The BN-350 FBR went online in 1973, and closed in 1999. In addition to producing plutonium, BN-350 was also used for providing power for the city and for desalination to supply fresh water to the city. By the long-term plan of the Government of Kazakhstan a new nuclear power station is going to be built near the current one, as the current type of supplying water and energy will not be enough in the future, as the new district called Aktau-City is going to be built, doubling the current area of the city.

Transport

Aktau has an international airport, a railway station, and a developed seaport. Buses and taxis are the principal means of public transport within the city.

Fixed fee for buses is 35 tenge (0.25$)
Fixed fee for a taxi is 200 tenge (1.5$) around the city (as of September 2007).
Every second car will pick you up if you just raise your hand. This is a general way of catching taxi in most part of the country. Calling taxi by phone is little more expensive. However, fees are subject to change reaching 1000 tenge, e.g. at New Year night or during extreme weather conditions.

The number of vehicles is more than 50,000 - five times bigger than the town can afford.^{[citation needed]}

Climate and leisure

Image:Aktau beach.jpg

View of the seaside

Climate is continental, with dry summers and mild winters. Mean January temperature: -4'C, mean July temperature: +27'C
Beach season lasts from May to September with average sea temperature: +21'. Aktau has rocky hills and sandy beaches at the seashore.
There are several modern resorts on the coast to the south of the city. The beaches of Caspian shore are full of people in the summer, due to the hot climate in the season. It attracts many people mainly from another parts of Kazakhstan visiting Aktau. There are many places of rest to the south of Aktau: places of rest mainly consisted in rest houses with a wide variety of comfort and service.

Sights

Regional Studies & History Museum
WWII Eternal Flame Memorial
Beket-Ata mosque
The Dramatic Theatre
Yntymak Square

Aktau city project

On September 11, 2007 President Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a start to the project Aktau city in order to develop tourism and attract investments ^[1]. Totally new city will be built to the north-west of the current city. 4 millions sq. meters of residential and business buildings are to be constructed. Architecture style is derived from UAE's construction experience under the patronage of Sheikh Abdullah ibn Zaid Al Nahayan