Hundreds of Kazakh construction workers staged a rare street
protest outside President Nursultan Nazarbayev's residence over
unpaid wages.
Kazakhstan's construction sector has been hit hard by wider credit
problems in the Central Asian state as some builders, unable to
secure sufficient funding, cut back their activities.
About 300 workers, many of them women, blocked a street leading to
the Akorda presidential palace in an unsanctioned rally over a
three-month delay in payments.
"They (employers) haven't explained anything. They keep telling us:
'We'll pay you tomorrow'," said Altyn, a worker from KUAT Corp., a
leading private construction firm.
"We need to buy clothes for our children. It's getting cold at this
time of year. We need to pay for our flats. How are we supposed to
live?," she added.
The workers shouted "Lies!" and "We don't believe you!" when
company and city officials appeared before the crowd and promised
to pay all the wages later in the day. The rally broke up three
hours later after police pushed them away.
Public protests are rare in Kazakhstan, ruled by Nazarbayev since
1989.
The opposition movement is weak and state media never criticise
the veteran leader, whose political party controls all seats in the
lower house of parliament.
Like many other ex-Soviet states, Kazakhstan has experienced a
major construction boom over past years, revamping its ageing
infrastructure and dotting the steppe nation with new hotels,
apartment blocks and shopping malls.
But the boom has threatened to fizzle out because of the liquidity
squeeze in a country where almost a quarter of all domestic lending
goes to the building sector.
"The situation within this company (KUAT) is difficult," said
Sergei Khoroshun, a deputy mayor.
"It's all because of the situation on the mortgage market."
