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Between 2019 and 2024, the residents of a small village in Kazakhstan named after Shegen Kodamanov in the southern Kyzylorda province fought against a Chinese cement plant located on the outskirts of their village. Tired of dealing with pollution from the plant and worried about the community's health, the villagers took the matter into their own hands and filed a formal complaint in court in 2021.

Their ultimate goal was to receive compensation and shut down or relocate the Gezhouba Shieli cement plant.

They won the battle but lost the war. The district and provincial courts sided with the villagers, overturning the local authorities’ assessment that did not detect pollution from the plant and ruling that the plant was built too close to the residential area in violation of the relevant legal framework.

Everything was going in the villagers’ favor until the Kazakh government intervened and amended the regulations governing the mandatory distance between hazardous plants and residential areas. This loophole allowed the plant to remain operational at its current location and continue polluting the area without facing legal consequences.

One of the 55 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects

Kazakhstan is a key partner in China’s multinational mega-infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Kazakh-Chinese bilateral cooperation extends far beyond cement and covers a wide range of industries, including energy, agriculture, machinery, mining, and others.

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