Ammon News - By: Abdulhamid Hamid Al-Kba- Across the plains north of Almaty, Kazakhstan is developing a new smart city with an estimated cost of around $25 billion, as part of an ambitious urban project that some local observers describe as an attempt to create the “Singapore of Central Asia.” The city carries the name “Alatau,” a Kazakh word associated with the country’s famous southern mountain ranges and often translated as “multicolored mountains,” reflecting the seasonal changes in the landscape. Yet the new Alatau is being presented not merely as an urban expansion project, but as a distinct economic and legal model designed to redefine the relationship between technology, investment, and urban development in Central Asia. The project is strategically located along the transport corridor linking Western Europe and Western China, giving it significance that goes far beyond traditional urban planning and placing it within Kazakhstan’s broader vision of becoming a regional logistics and digital hub across Eurasia. Since the former village of Zhetigen was granted the status of a city of regional importance in early 2024, Alatau has gradually evolved into a national flagship project receiving direct political attention. That momentum later accelerated when the city was granted a special legal framework providing regulatory and administrative powers different from those of other Kazakh cities. Alatau extends across nearly 96,500 hectares, making it one of the largest new-city projects in Central Asia, with an area roughly twice the size of nearby Almaty. Under the master plan, the city is designed as a multi-centered urban hub that includes: a financial and commercial district, educational and medical clusters, industrial and logistics zones, as well as tourism and leisure projects along the Kapchagay reservoir. According to long-term official plans, Alatau could eventually accommodate around 1.9 million residents and generate nearly one million jobs