NUR-SULTAN / ex ASTANA (KazInform) — Kazakhstan plans to spend KZT2.2&nbsp,trln in 2021 for the construction 17 mln m² of housing, Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin told at the Government meeting today.

Under the Soviet system all organisations that employed people had dormitories for their employees. After a period of working for two to four years, accommodation was usually given in the dormitory after which the individual or family applied for an apartment. If one was lucky, an apartment was provided by the state in ten to fifteen years.

However, many people “died without getting an apartment”. Priority was given to people who were close to the Communist Party or had “connections” in the bureaucracy. As such there were a large number of “homeless people” in the Soviet system as well.

It seems that during the Soviet period the state developed about 800,000 m² of housing per year in Almaty.