In some cases, the absorption of neighbouring municipalities seems also to be a w'ay to cope with infrastructure developments and land scarcity in a context of growing population. For instance, according to local authorities, the expansion of city borders in Kyzylorda was indispensable in distributing individual land plots for construction purposes. In both Almaty City and Shymkent, according to local authorities, such expansion was necessary to improve transport infrastructure (suburban road network, new' railway tracks, car parks and bus stations), build new social objects (schools, hospitals) and develop new housing projects (in Shymkent only). Shymkent has now' the largest territory among Kazakh cities (1 170 km2).