Tulpar’s training ground came with the land and a tax break

Tulpar Talas opened its new training centre on the western edge of the city in May, with eight pitches, a hostel for the youth academy and a gymnasium. The club called it a gift to the city. City council records show the city made a gift too.

In a session closed to the public on 22 October 2015, the council leased the club 14 hectares of municipal land for 49 years at a rent of one som a square metre a year, about a twentieth of the rate in the city’s own schedule for the area. At the same session it granted the Talas Commercial Development Group, which owns the club, a ten-year exemption from municipal property tax on “sports and associated commercial facilities”. The associated commercial facilities, according to the group’s planning application, include a shopping arcade and two apartment blocks.

The group is headed by Adil Toktarov, the Governor’s son.

The group said its investment in the club was lawful and “a contribution to Irad’s sport that no other owner has made”. The city said the session was closed because it concerned “commercial negotiations”. Neftchi Nurzhan, which pays commercial rent to NurGaz for its own training ground, said it had “no comment, for now”.