Buildings
We have been appointed as project manager for Abu Dhabi Plaza to be constructed in Astana, Kazakhstan. The $1.2bn mixed use commercial scheme is 500,000m2 and consists of four levels of basement car parking, a retail podium and five towers, the tallest of which will be 75 storeys comprising residential units and commercial office space. The project is scheduled for completion end of 2016.
Environment
Mott MacDonald has been supporting the Republic of Kazakhstan government on a range of water resource management and environmental protection projects.
We've provided technical assistance on a landmark scheme that aims to prevent the devastation of the lower Syr Darya valley from floods. The Synas Phase II scheme addresses the social, economic and environmental problems caused when excess water from the region’s existing reservoirs enters the country’s major natural drainage system, the Syr Darya river basin, and overflows onto the land.
Protecting the Syr Darya valley will safeguard the livelihoods of the area’s inhabitants and rationalise water use in the agricultural and fishing industries. These goals form part of the larger directive to improve institutional capacity in water management.
We have also assisted the Kazakh government with implementing the EU-funded Development and Improvement of Policy Instruments for Environmental Protection project, which seeks to increase the efficiency of the policy instruments for environmental protection, support the state inspectorate and provide advice on priority environmental problem areas.
Oil and gas
We've been active on cross-border projects to provide the European Commission with advice on harmonisation of gas standards and practices in Central Asia.
We acted as the ground engineering technical advisor for Karachaganak processing complex in Kazakhstan. The Karachaganak field has large reserves of both oil and gas. Two phases of development increased production from 7.7 to 15 million tonnes per annum. We provided detailed ground investigation specifications including management and supervision for the ground investigations. The project included providing advice on site selection, assessing the capabilities of Kazakh contractors and knowledge transfer to local contractors to enable their continued expansion and growth for future works.
North Aral Sea Dyke
In 1960 the Aral Sea was the world’s fourth largest inland water body. Four decades later the sea’s surface area had shrunk by 60%. The Kazakh government opted to build a dyke across the split of land separating the North Aral Sea from the South to raise the water level in the north. Its aim was to bring the sea back across 100km to revive agriculture and replenish fisheries. Our team helped supervise dyke construction and the design of the Syr Darya River works.
Transport
Our dedicated team provided front-end engineering design services for the Eskene West Rail facility, which will export oil and sulphur as part of the Kashagan Oil Field Development Programme, a major global upstream oil project located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea.