Ilya (one of the male colleagues) works on a project in a village called Bautino. It’s also about creating an artificial island, but it’s ‘fixed’ to the mainland. In the end they use the land as a place to load and unload ships and to store materials. Ilya and Nurgul designed this island for the client of Witteveen+Bos. They made the drawings, thought about the constructions etc. At the moment the project is in the realization faze. Ilya and Nurgul control if they make the islands according to their design.
I looked up on Google where I could find Bautino. It’s about 125km North from Aktau.

Wednesday after noon they told me I would go to Bautino. ‘Ok, fine by me. But what’s happening in Bautino?’ I didn’t know that Witteveen+Bos Aktau was working on other projects beside the North Caspian Sea project. That project is about the artificial islands they made for drilling and pumping oil. The artificial island in Bautino is one of the other projects. For me it would be very interesting to go to Bautino because elements of the project are the same as the North Caspian Sea project. During my trainee I won’t be able to visit that project. This was a very nice opportunity to get an idea about the project.
All the colleagues told me that it would be very cold in Bautino, so I should ware warm cloths. There would be a strong wind and they had also a little bit snow in Bautino in the days before.
Thursday morning 9 o’clock I got in the car with Azarmat (the driver), Ilya, warm cloths, a helm and safety shoes. De ride would take about 2 hours so I also got my Russian books to study a little and enough food to survive for 2 days.
For the first time I saw a part of Aktau without high buildings. There were small garages and stalls fixed to each other. As well they had a sad grey color, but at least it was something different. When we passed the border of Aktau the way became bumpier. In the Netherlands we complain about little fractures in the asphalt. Over here it’s almost a sport to get around the real big holes. After 10 minutes my intention to study a little Russian was over. The good part is that I got a good impression about the country around Aktau. Outside Aktau there is a Muslim cemetery. It looks like small temples surrounded by a low stone wall. After the cemetery you won’t see anything special anymore. It’s ‘hilly’ steppe with on your right hand side a yellow gas pipe. Once in a while you see wild horses, a dromedaries or some cheeps, a dirt road, a grave in the middle of nowhere or a house/barn. According to Google there should be more villages between Aktau and Bautino. I didn’t see them, not even a way made of asphalt or concrete. After almost 2 hours you see an enormous board with the word ‘Ford Sjevtsjenko’ on it. Indeed called to Tsar Sjevtsjenko. But also after this board there was no sign of life.
From the top of a cliff I had a nice view on the projects Witteveen+Bos was (still) involved with.
The island is made of a soil called limestone. The construction workers were busy with ramming the sheet piles in the limestone ground. The sheet piles will protect the island against the waves of the Caspian Sea. On another place dumpers were level up the island. For me this all was new and very nice to see. Close to the sheet piles you could get a shower. Because of the strong wind, water flow over the sheet piles. It was still freezing a little bit, so it was glibly along the sheet piles and you could see icicles hanging on the steel.
Ilya spoke with the assistant performer about the development of the work. He told me that they used and still using the wrong soil to make the island. Limestone they use is too crude; you could see big bricks. In this way they can’t compress it, the way it should be. The island won’t be as stable as it is designed. Beside that there was also a lot of water in a groove behind the sheet piles. After the lunch we would have a meeting to accost the contractor of the project of these issues. I asked Ilya if the project went as it was planned. He couldn’t really answer that question and that was quite strange to me. I thought that he should know about that because he was the supervisor of the project.
We drove through Bautino; an old village, settled by fisherman, small houses and about 5000 inhabitants. Also in Bautino you can see the gas pipes. They made a network of pipes in between the houses. I thought that would be very dangerous. Except the fact that 6 months a year the temperature in Bautino is lower than 10 degrees, all the houses where covered with corrugated iron. In Kazakhstan the gas price is very low. So it’s cheaper to put your heater up to 40 degrees than to isolate your house.
I thought that we would take a lunch in a café or bar. But I think Bautino doesn’t even have that. There are a few hotels were employees of big (inter)national companies, who have their project in the bay of Bautino, life. In one of those hotels we went for lunch and I saw also other Dutch people.
After lunch we went back to the construction zone. To enter the office of the contractor, you have to pass a checkpoint. I was really surprised. I expected that we would have a meeting with about 8 people around a big table, that there would be a chairman, a secretary, an agenda and the minutes of the last meeting. But in the ‘office’ there was nothing of that at all. It was a small room with enough space for 3 men, a computer and a desk. Ilya got a book of the contractor and started to write his notes in it. When the contractor and principal read it, they put their signature behind the note. Ilya wrote about the soil before. But the principal is also the provider of the soil. So every time, all the parties just put their signature behind the note and work goes on. After that he had to sign several papers. This was the meeting. I also saw the planning I asked Ilya about. It was in Russia, but he told me that the project was moving forward as planned. Back on the construction zone itself, Ilya asked about the water behind the sheet piles and why they didn’t try to pump it back in the sea. The answer: they tried but they didn’t want that the pumps got damaged, so they stopped. For me it was confusing. But ok. You are in a different country, so also a different way of working.

In Bautino there is also a museum of Tsar Sjevtsjenko. So I had also a cultural lesson. The museum isn’t as big as the ‘Rijksmuseum’ we have in the Netherlands. I think it’s three times my apartment, but of course there was a big park in front of it with all kind of statues. All the stuff, books, paintings, ... were used or made by Sjevtsjenko himself, according to a board in the museum. However I don’t have any knowledge about art, but it is very clear that this man was and still is very important to the people in Kazakhstan and that they have a lot of respect for this man.
Back to Aktau I realized that along the way in Bautino it was a big mass. According to Ilya the people in Bautino aren’t civilized as the people in Aktau. In Aktau you won’t find this. But also outside Bautino it was a big mass; plastics, paper, bottles, bags, … When we entered the centre of AKtau, all became cleaner.

I had a seen lot of things and I had also a lot of questions about that for my Dutch colleagues.
On Friday I spoke with Henk about my experiences and asked him about the development of the project I visited. A summary of his answer: Witteveen+Bos is supervisor of the work. The only thing they have to control is: do they make the island as we designed it. They don’t have to consider about the planning.
There are meetings between the principal and the contractor. But indeed, it’s not common to have a meeting with all the parties. Communication goes by the logbook, Ilya wrote his notes in. This is a way the principal chose.
Last question: ‘How can it be that there is such a big mass along the way? There isn’t even a tank station or a MC Donald’s were you can buy things to make this mass!’ In Kazakhstan people don’t have awareness about the environment. When there isn’t a bin next to their feet, they just throw everything on the ground. The fact that it’s cleaner in Aktau, hasn’t anything to do with civilization. There are just hundreds of women with a green uniform to clean the streets, parks and even the staircases of apartment every day.

Thursday was an impressive day!