Kazakhstan’s first crematorium is ready but remains unopened
Tengrinews.kz – The first crematorium in Kazakhstan, located in Almaty, is fully constructed but has yet to open, citing the city’s construction department.
According to the department, all construction and installation work on the crematorium’s engineering networks has been completed in full.
"The commissioning certificate has been signed. Registration with architectural and justice authorities was completed in the third quarter of 2024," officials stated.
However, the exact opening date and cremation service fees have not yet been announced by the city administration.
Currently, the Almaty city government has sent an official request to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health to determine the final managing authority of the facility.
Tengrinews.kz
The Ministry of Health clarified that cremation and columbarium services in Kazakhstan are governed by burial regulations. In 2021, sanitary standards for cemeteries and funeral facilities were also approved. A draft order introducing amendments to these sanitary - rulesspecifically for crematoriums and columbariums - has been developed by the Ministry’s Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Committee and is now undergoing approval.
The Ministry also noted that in 2020, funds were allocated from the national budget for the construction of crematoriums in Almaty and Astana. These funds were transferred to the city governments as targeted transfers.
The crematorium in Almaty is located in the Alatau district, south of CHP-2.
The facility was originally scheduled to open in 2021, but the launch was postponed multiple times - first to 2022, then to the first quarter of 2023, and still has not commenced operations.
Earlier, it was reported that the city administration had filed a lawsuit against the contractor responsible for installing engineering networks for the crematorium. The contractor, , failed to meet the deadlines. A court ruling declared the company an unscrupulous participant in public procurement, and a penalty was imposed in favor of Almaty’s local budget.