Fireworks flared across the city as the celebrations at last began in the new capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, ahead of its official unveiling on Wednesday.

The people of Astana have been waiting for this day ever since their city was formally declared the capital seven months ago.

The new capital is in a more central location

Since then they have seen it transformed. Workers have laboured around the clock to make sure it is ready for the big day.

Grand hotels have risen as if from nowhere and where rundown buildings stood before there are now gleaming office and apartment blocks.

Many are actually plastic fascades fitted to old buildings, but from the outside at least they look convincing.

Recreating this small town in the heart of the Kazakh steppe has been a monumental project.

No-one knows exactly how much the Kazakhs have spent, but the estimates start at $200m.

At first many though Astana, or Akmola as it was then known, was an odd choice for a capital. The city is notorious for its extreme Siberian snows and its blazing summer heat.

But to the Kazakhs this is a crucial political move.

The former capital, Almaty, is tucked away in the far southeast corner of this vast country, 1,000km away. Astana lies almost in the centre, closer to the border with Russia.

The shift was designed to pre-empt any territorial ambitions from Moscow and to assert the government's grip over the more multi-racial north.