Astana

Two systems started in 2017 and took wildly different paths. Sergek, a home-grown video-enforcement network, went into full operation that year: a private consortium installed cameras that read plates and record violations, which police confirm with an electronic signature before a fine issues. The structure mattered more than the hardware — fines went entirely to the city budget while the operator drew a flat service fee independent of violation counts. When the partnership expired in 2025 the city took the infrastructure into state hands and re-let it, and enforcement carried on.

The contact centre followed in 2018. iKomek 109 folds 23 city departments, six district administrations and every utility, elevator and building-management company into one 24/7 short number, app and messenger bot, handling over 2.2 million requests a year. Its closing rule is the interesting part and its weakness at once: a case closes only after the resident confirms the problem is solved, which the city reports itself with no independent audit of whether closed means fixed. The 2026 replatforming showed the cost of a single channel — the old app simply stopped accepting reports on 1 January with no announced return date.

The light metro took the whole decade. The 21.5 km elevated line — Central Asia's first urban light rail — opened on 16 May 2026 after stalling in 2019 when its contractor went bankrupt and a credit line froze. The trains carry GoA4 automation: movement, stops, doors and depot runs are system-controlled, and the operator keeps a staff member aboard every train for emergencies. Nobody drives, and nobody is absent either. Statistics-bureau data put ridership at 3.2 million passengers by the end of June 2026, with 2.1 million trips in June alone.