The secretary of the capital's Maslikhat, Yerlan Kanalimov, explained the process of renaming Nur-Sultan to Astana during a Q&A session after the public hearings on the proposal, QazMonitor reports.
Kanalimov explained that renaming the capital consists of several stages.
"Us holding public hearings and submitting it to the maslikhat session is one of the stages of the whole procedure. After our sessions and the decision of the maslikhat, whether it is an approval or rejection, there will be sessions at the Republican Onomastic Commission. Then, the documents will be sent to the Government. The Government will submit a draft decree for the President's signature. After the official release of the decree, if it is signed, we can talk about the renaming of the capital city", Kanalimov said.
Maslikhat deputies unanimously supported the initiative to rename Nur-Sultan to Astana at the hearings.
As for the budget funds required for the possible renaming, akim of the capital Altay Kulginov commented:
"We studied the 2019 budget when [the capital] was renamed. There was a lot of paperwork back then. Now, we do almost all of the paperwork online, so there will be a lot less expenses. In 2019, we estimated [it to require] about 30 million tenge. This was for the signs and forms. Even in the case where the maslikhat decides on [approving the decree], we will not be able to change everything in one day.”