Seaside city Aktau 4K UHD | Pearl of Mangystau | Cities of Kazakhstan | Driving Downtown | part 1

Aktau (translated from the Kazakh language as "White Mountain", from 1964 to 1991 it was called Shevchenko) is a port city in the west of Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea, the regional center of the Mangistau region.
In 1961-1963 it was the Aktau settlement, and in 1963 it was transformed into the city of Aktau. On July 1, 1964, it was renamed Shevchenko, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, who was in exile in Mangyshlak in the middle of the 19th century. On September 13, 1991, the name Aktau was returned to the city.
The appearance of the city was the result of the decision taken by the leadership of the Soviet Union in the early 1950s to create a nuclear shield of the country with the participation of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building and under the control of the then Minister Yefim Slavsky. The city was built from scratch according to the master plan developed by the Leningrad Design Institute (as part of the development of new young cities in the Soviet Union). The institute's curator was architect Mikhail Levin. As a city-forming enterprise, the Caspian Mining and Metallurgical Combine (PGMK) was built, which included the extraction of uranium ore, its processing and enrichment. The network of enterprises of this complex provided the main production with chemical reagents (nitrogen fertilizer and sulfuric acid plants), thermal power, water (CHP, BN-350). The infrastructure of the city was built, providing for the living of people in the waterless desert. The construction of the city was carried out by the Caspian Construction Administration (PCS) under the leadership of L. N. Tomashevsky.
Aktau has no natural sources of drinking water, the city is completely provided with recycled sea water: fresh water is produced from a highly mineralized natural source by diluting it with distillate produced from sea water in industrial multi-shell evaporation plants ("samovars"). The city is provided with drinking water by the MAEK water desalination station, which prepares and mixes the produced distillate from sea water with low-mineralized artesian water from the Kuilyus deposit, since there are no natural sources of drinking water near the city.
Since 1991, Aktau has become a center for the development of oil and gas fields, both old, discovered back in the 20th century, and new ones: Zhetybay, Kalamkas, Karazhanbas, Atambay-Sarytyube, Oimashi, Komsomolsky, Northern Buzachi, Karakuduk, Tolkyn and Arman.
The attraction of Aktau is a lighthouse located on the roof of a residential building, which is located in the fourth microdistrict, you can also see it in this video.
Also, since 2018, a special rocky path on the seashore has been opened for residents of the city and tourists, which is a path of boards several kilometers long with multi-colored LED lamps, wooden railings and many benches.
Aktau has the longest walking coastline in Kazakhstan, which is about five kilometers long, you can see it on the video.
One of the sights of Aktau is the Mangyshlak Experimental Botanical Garden.
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