JUNE 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ordered officials in Tashkent to build a new airport from scratch, apparently dropping plans to build a new terminal for international flights at the current airport. The decree, did not say when the new airport would be completed or how much it would cost.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan plans to start building a metropolitan rail system around Tashkent, media reported. Reports said that the cost of the $320m project would be split between the government ($185m), the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan ($20m) and China’s Exim Bank ($115m). Since becoming president in Sept. last year, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has placed major emphasis on infrastructure development.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
BISHKEK, JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Turkish cargo aeroplane flying from Hong Kong to Istanbul overshot the runway at Manas International Airport outside Bishkek on a refuelling stop, ploughed into a village and killed at least 38 people.
Crash investigators said fog had shrouded the airport but there had been no problems reported from the flight deck.
Airports in Central Asia are competing for lucrative stop-over trade for flights, both passenger and cargo, between East Asia and Europe. Depending on the investigators’ findings, the crash may damage Manas’ credibility.
At the crash site, the village of Dacha-Suu, which took the main impact, had been destroyed. The aeroplane’s torn wing stuck up through a smashed roof. The cockpit lay smashed and broken in a front garden. Part of the undercarriage had ripped through a living room, bringing death and destruction to Kyrgyz domestic tranquility.
Residents of the village who escaped described a loud bang.
“I thought there was an earthquake, but looking out of the window, we saw the fire,” one man told television news.
A Conway Bulletin correspondent said that the military and the police had cordoned off the site.
There has also been criticism of the government’s response with many Kyrgyz saying that President Almazbek Atambayev was too slow to show his grief over what is being treated as a national disaster.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At least nine people died when an apartment building in the town of Shakhan, near Karaganda in central Kazakhstan, collapsed. The emergency services have said that the death toll could rise. The accident shows the often dangerous state of many of the Soviet-era buildings in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)
NOV. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank agreed to give a $120m loan to Uzbekistan to improve water supply in the peripheral districts of the Tashkent region. The districts of Kibray and Zangiota, outside of Tashkent, have been identified as potential industrial hubs and the government plans to establish a special economic zone in Zangiota. Clean water supply and water management have been chronically overlooked in peripheral regions in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A decorative bridge linking two pavilions in Kazakhstan’s headline EXPO-2017 project collapsed, only a few months before the exhibition is scheduled to open. Media reported that nobody was injured, unlike Kazakh pride. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has set much store in using EXPO-2017 to promote the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD and the EU will expand their programme to support improvements in Kyrgyzstan’s energy efficiency with a $45m loan. The new credit line seeks to boost energy efficiency, particularly for water usage, for Kyrgyz businesses and households.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan completed an 8.3km extension of a railway line to the Iranian border, a vital component of the North-South Transport Corridor that will link India with Europe and Russia. Media reported that the rail link was due to open next year. This is the only rail link between Azerbaijan and Iran. Relations between the two countries have much improved over the past couple of years, mainly due to the relative moderate Hassan Rouhani being elected in 2013 as Iranian leader and the lifting of most of the sanctions hanging over Iran. The North-South Transport Corridor is being developed to cut transport costs and is considered vital to boosting regional trade.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
OCT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – CRRC, China’s state-owned train manufacturer, signed an agreement with state-owned Georgian Railway to supply 28 new electric locomotives and jointly build a factory to produce trains in the country. The new $20m factory, located near Tbilisi, will be operated by CRRC and local companies BMI Partners and AS Group 1990. The joint venture aims to create an export hub for train parts to Europe and Turkey.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Behlen Industries, a Canadian construction company, started building a new Sports Palace in Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. The project is part of a government drive to build new sporting facilities across the country to promote healthy lifestyles and improve facilities for amateur and professional sports men and women. New complexes will also be built in Telavi and Gori, in east and central Georgia. The total cost of the three projects is $33.9m. Behlen is part of WGI Westman Group.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
