Residents of Bishkek are outraged by the condition of roads in the city. In their opinion, every spring the asphalt literally disappears. President Sadyr Japarov has said he shares the citizens’ dissatisfaction. Responding to the criticism, representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the presence of potholes and holes on highways is a natural process.
“The situation depends on many factors, including weather and climatic conditions and the intensity of road traffic. The Ministry of Transport and Communications makes every effort to repair and properly maintain the roads of international state and local importance on its balance sheet and tries to fulfill the adopted plan for their construction and maintenance as much as possible, even exceeding this plan,” the press service of the Ministry of Transport said. The ministry stressed that only 19,000 kilometers of roads are on the balance sheet of the Ministry, whilst the quality of the remainder of Kyrgyzstan’s roads is monitored by municipal authorities in cities – and therefore Bishkek residents should complain to the city authorities.
The capital’s municipal services were also criticized by President Japarov, who said in an interview that it was time to change the system of road construction and maintenance completely.
“How did the Ministry of Transport work in road construction for 30 years? If they needed to asphalt a road 100 kilometers long, they attracted private companies, calculated the cost of the work and demanded 10% of that amount from those same companies. Of course, they did not pay this 10% to the ministry, but into their own pockets. And after the private companies completed construction, they gave [more] money in order to put it into operation,” Japarov stated.
The President instructed the government to change the rules: roads should be repaired not by private companies, but by government agencies. The government is now allocating funds to buy its own equipment to help solve the problem of corruption, he said. Consequently, over the past two years, about 300 units of special equipment have been purchased and distributed to the regions. Another 450 special vehicles are expected to be delivered this year. The quality of roads will improve, though not immediately, Japarov said. Finding qualified personnel and strengthening their technical know-how will take time.
“We have not increased funds for asphalting roads. The result is due to the fact that we started to build it ourselves… Of course, there are certain shortcomings in quality. However, as the saying goes, ‘everything has its time,’ and our transport workers will gradually achieve high quality. I think this process will take three to five years,” the President concluded.
This year, the capital’s municipal authorities have barely reacted to the complaints of citizens; roads in Bishkek are being repaired slowly with the arrival of spring. However, after harsh criticism from the head of state, the situation has changed.
Mayor of Bishkek, Aibek Junushaliyev recently went on an inspection to check construction work. “Bishkeksafalt service [has been tasked with] monitoring the quality of asphalt. Otherwise, strict measures will be taken against those responsible for road repair,” threatened the head of the city in comments made during the inspection.
