Building Astana as capital was new idea for new Kazakhstan -

ASTANA, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- The construction of Astana as the
capital of Kazakhstan was a "real challenge" for its time a d a new idea for the country, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

"I thought up a new idea for the new Kazakhstan: to build for the
first time in the history of the Kazakh people their own capital and grow
new intellectuals there, and overhaul the government. And we succeeded,"
the president said in an interview with Itar-Tass.

He recalled that there had used to be virgin land in place of Astana.
"Akmolinsk became Tselinograd, the centre of the virgin land, and
something was built here : and it turned out to be quite helpful in the
beginning," he said.

According to Nazarbayev, output in Astana has increased 20 times over
the 10 years since the relocation of the capital. The population has
trebled to 700,000 and may reach one million by 20145 or possibly even by
2010. The average age of people living the city is 32 years. Astana has
the highest birth rate.

"I think the main outlines of the capital have been created over the
past 10 years. I can assure the world of that. The capital of Kazakhstan
has proved viable. There is a Eurasian city in the steppe," the president
said.

The full interview with Nazarbayev will be broadcast in Formula of
Power on Rossiya television channel on July 5.