Transportation

Speed limit

After speed reduction on Al-Farabi Avenue from 80 to 60 km, the number of accidents decreased by 2.7 times. On the one-sided Kurmangazy street, the number of accidents decreased by 41%, and on Shevchenko street was 4 times.^[9]

Urban policies

For several years, work was underway to reconstruct the central streets of the city for pedestrians.^[11] One of the main objects of change was Panfilov Street, which became a pedestrian street from Zhibek Zholy Street to Qabanbai Batyr Street.^[12]

Under Baibek, more than 600 streets and almost 1,600 courtyards of Almaty were repaired, where modern children's and sports grounds, surveillance cameras, and courtyard lighting appeared. 30% of street lighting was converted to energy-saving LED lighting. 300 km of irrigation ditches and 2000 km of engineering networks were also repaired and built. Almost 3000 illegal kiosks were demolished in the city.

Baubek announced the City Without Fences program, in which 150 km of fences were dismantled. Many organizations planted bushes and trees as a replacement.^[13]

In October 2015, the building of the former General Plan on Jeltoqsan Street was demolished. Members of the Defend Almaty initiative group gathered near the building, claiming that work was being carried out illegally, but the city planning council issued all the necessary permits.^[14] In October 2015, with the approval of the Town Planning Council, the Alatau Cinema building, built in 1960, was demolished for the construction of McDonald's. Social media users organized a flash mob against the demolition of the building. In response to the controversies, Baibek stated that for 20 years the cinema was empty, and it did not represent historical value, since it was made of alucobond.^[15]

A project for preventive monitoring of mudflow hazard was developed. Seismic amplification of 65% of educational facilities and 53% of healthcare was carried out. To protect against mudflows, the Mynjylky Dam was reconstructed, 9 of the most breakthrough moraine lakes were emptied. 9 rivers canals were reconstructed. Protective structures strengthened the slopes at HES-1 - BAO and Medeu - Shymbulak.^[9]

For the first time in the city, the “Participation Budget” project was implemented where a part of the city budget is distributed by the citizens themselves.^[16]

Social objects

In a few years, 11 schools and more than 540 public and private kindergartens were opened, and 12 hospitals and clinics were commissioned. Within the framework of the project “Baityt Obybasy”, the payment for kindergartens was halved, and a large number of private kindergartens were opened. As a result of this work, more than 20 thousand children were enrolled in kindergartens.^[13]

From 2015, Almaty schools, colleges, hospitals and KSK began to publish their reports on financial activities.^[9]

In February 2019, a simplified mortgage lending program was launched for large families.^[13]

While Baibek was akim, many medical centers were sold into private ownership. The privatization plan of these and other facilities in the country was previously approved by the Decree of the Government of Kazakhstan from 30 December 2015 No. 1141 “On some issues of privatization for 2016-2020”.^[17]

Criticism

In May 2017, environmental activists of the “Defend Almaty” and “Defend Kokkailau” groups gave the Akim a gift-installation “Death of Almaty”, which, according to the authors of the present, symbolizes the concern of the townspeople about the activities of the city akim.^[18] That same month, the appeal of a public figure Denis Krivosheev to Baibek was published.