EXPO Astana: Behind the Glitz

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is hosting a specialized EXPO focusing on renewable energy sources and highlighting energy beyond traditional fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, which have been the staple of the country's economy throughout its independence. The government hails the event as an occasion to show Kazakhstan's modern look to the world; the EXPO’s flashy and futuristic buildings were erected on a barren lot in the outskirts of glitzy Astana. Several local residents, on the other hand, have instead described the EXPO as a wasteful exercise, especially in tough economic times.

Kazakhstan's economic growth was down to a minimum after oil prices fell dramatically in 2014. In mid-2015, the government was forced to stop propping up its currency and abandon the peg to the U.S. dollar, a policy that immediately triggered a sharp depreciation of the tenge. This in turn depressed consumption, slashed savings, and made it harder for Kazakhs to repay their dollar-denominated mortgages. Galloping inflation and unsustainable debt also put pressure on the banking system, which found it tougher to finance enterprises and to recover credits. Against this backdrop, the government decided to go all in and spend between $3 billion and $5 billion on a rather frivolous spectacle, the coming together of over 100 countries displaying their efforts and achievements in their transition away from dependence on fossil fuel consumption.

The Pavilions

A museum of PR, the EXPO is a collection of gadgets, small and large, that fail to explain the real energy policies of the participating countries. Some countries, from China to Italy, pay for their own pavilion through a government budget (the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they spent around €3 million for the country's pavilion). Others, like the United States, have private companies take on the burden. That oil giant Chevron and behemoth General Electric were the two main sponsors of the U.S. pavilion is telling of how fossil fuels continue to permeate, and drive, any discourse around energy – renewable or not. EXPO 2017 is unlikely to put pressure on any country to become greener or to raise competition to improve efficiency.

Some countries even missed the point altogether. Russia promoted its exploits in nuclear energy, despite the fact that it is neither renewable nor fully green, leaving aside the potential for massive disasters like Chernobyl or Fukushima. Much like Russia, the United Arab Emirates and other hydrocarbon-rich countries, such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, also showcased drilling rigs and pipeline networks. The 2015 Baku European Games and the Ashgabat Indoor Martial Arts Games later this fall were prominently displayed, though quite off topic. Despite the event’s tagline – Energy of the Future – and the wind turbine-shaped logo, some countries just went with what they had.

At the center of the EXPO grounds, looms the infamous "Death Star” – a 7-floor sphere that hosts Kazakhstan's pavilion. The massive building was at the core of an international PR gaffe after Foreign Policy published an article that criticized the EXPO and made pointed fun of the pavilion. The organizing committee reacted by alleging that the journalist, James Palmer, had never been to the EXPO and the Ministry of Communications even questioned his presence in the country. Palmer then took to social media and showed pictures of his ticket to EXPO and the stamps Kazakhstan's border police had put on his passport when crossing into the country. The Foreign Policy website was later blocked for weeks in Kazakhstan.

The exhibition at the Kazakh pavilion turned out to be instructive and in line with the theme of the EXPO. But the attendees seemed more interested in seeing the light shows and taking pictures with the massive installations than reading the panels, all translated into English, Russian, and Kazakh. Children were active and excited, playing with the water-powered installations. But when it came to the kinetic energy devices, none of them actually worked.

“This is broken; that one doesn't work. Is there anything that functions here?” a 7-year-old asked his mother in a mixture of Russian and Kazakh.

Inevitably, locals continue to poke fun at the “giant steel balloon,” as they call it. At night, it shoots a beam of light into the sky, visible throughout the city.

Attendance, Corruption, and Accidents

At the beginning of July, the government-owned English-language newspaper The Astana Times opened its front page with three cheers: for the 20th anniversary of Astana as Kazakhstan's capital, the birth of the 18-millionth Kazakhstani and the landmark of the EXPO’s millionth visitor. All of which, coincidentally, were close to President Nursultan Nazarbayev's 77th birthday on July 6. But mixed reports of the EXPO grounds being busy on the weekends, for concerts and celebrations, and at night, when ticket prices were cheaper, and empty during weekdays made it hard to believe that so many had already strolled through the pavilions. On a cloudy afternoon in July, around half of the people on the EXPO grounds were wearing volunteer or organizer badges.

Large groups in company uniforms or with matching colorful caps could be spotted just outside the EXPO grounds, near the many buses packing every available parking lot, even at the nearby Nazarbayev University, or snapping pictures at the capital's touristic hotspots. Workers from extractive companies, such as Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and PetroKazakhstan, proudly wore their employer's colors and explored the city on team trips sponsored by their companies. According to critics, some workers were forced to buy a ticket and risked being fired if they chose not to attend. A giant portrait of Gennady Golovkin, a famous Kazakh boxer, admonished: “Be patriotic and go to EXPO!” For many government employees and workers at large companies, patriotism was expected.

Arman, a volcanic taxi driver, was among the skeptics regarding the attendance numbers boasted by the organizers. “Teachers and doctors, for example, are forced to go. Some of them were threatened with being fired if they didn't,” he said.

“But for people living five, seven thousand miles away, the 4,000 tenge [$12] ticket is nothing compared to the huge cost of flying here and finding accommodation, which has become more expensive now. People simply don't have that kind of money. We're not rich, despite the fact that our country is doing quite well,” Arman added.

The state of Kazakhstan's economy is a paragon of unsuccessful redistribution. Large cities and small villages are worlds apart, despite their proximity.

“It's incredible that the theme of EXPO is 'The energy of the future' given that if you go just 10 kilometers outside the city – the capital city! – villages don't have water or electricity. What kind of energy of the future? What kind of future?” Arman burst out.

Besides inequality, Kazakhstan is also a country riddled with corruption. Anti-corruption advocates at Transparency International ranked Kazakhstan 131st in their 2016 survey of corruption perceptions among 176 countries. And EXPO was no exception. In June 2015, the chairman of the National Company Astana EXPO 2017, Talgat Yermegiyayev, was removed from his post before being brought to court for embezzling around $22 million. The following week, Sulambek Barkinkhoyev, managing director of the same company, and Kazhymurat Usenov, former head of construction, were arrested for embezzling around $1.2 million. Usenov, sentenced to two years in prison, was released earlier this year through an amnesty. Yermegiyayev's lawyer said he refused to ask for amnesty and will serve his 14-year sentence.

The corruption scandal in the construction of the EXPO’s infrastructure was later linked to an accident, when a decorative structure between two pavilions collapsed just after it was completed in November 2016. Aidin Rakhimbayev, CEO of construction giant BI Group and one of Kazakhstan's wealthiest men, admitted responsibility in a long Facebook post, saying his company would improve the materials used to build the pavilions. Rakhimbayev has been the target of complaints by other smaller construction companies that argue that BI Group has a special relationship with those in charge of assigning tenders, excluding others from the most lucrative contracts.

Several collateral infrastructure projects on the EXPO grounds were built through funds that the Development Bank of Kazakhstan received from the Single Pension Fund, which recently became the country's principal piggy bank after buying out most of the private pension funds from commercial banks. While the government stressed that the pension funds were not used to finance the EXPO itself, the mere presence of people's savings next to the glitzy vanity project enraged many.

“I won't go to EXPO; I've already unwillingly given them my pension money to build it. Why should I pay the ticket?” a fellow bus traveler answered when I asked if he was also getting off at the EXPO-branded stop.

If local criticism was not loud enough, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev doubled-down by comparing government expenditures between the two neighboring countries.

“Had I squandered so much money, my fellow citizens would have burned me,” Atambayev told local press after visiting the EXPO.

Indeed, if a development of renewable energy sources was the chief objective of the government, they could have chosen to improve the public transit fleet in Kazakhstan's largest cities and explore alternative solutions to powering the more remote villages. A $3 billion to $5 billion dollar budget, hailed by a TV anchor as a sum that “would have been enough to rebuild two entire regions of the country,” could have found better use if diverted to boosting renewables' share in overall energy consumption from today's minuscule 2 percent.

It seems that instead of bringing Kazakhstan to a global stage, the EXPO was a way to bring the world closer to Kazakhstan.

“Let's go to Europe; I want to see Germany,” a young woman told her parents, pointing to the Western pavilions as if she was on a virtual tour of the world.

Going by the government's numbers, the cost will stay within $1.25 billion, while revenues were planned at $54 million, before ticket prices were slashed in July. This temporary miniature globe was definitely a costly billboard for the government. Should the economic crisis become unsustainable, the excitement of those who attended could turn into a sour feeling if their pension money evaporates.