Kyrgyzstan Environment - The Times Of Central Asia

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TikTok Users Struggle to Access App after Kyrgyzstan Announces Restrictions

Kyrgyzstan is restricting access to TikTok. The Ministry of Digital Development sent a letter to internet providers, asking them to block the TikTok social media platform, local media has reported. The ministry cited the network´s failure to comply with a law designed to “prevent harm to the health of children, their physical, intellectual, mental, spiritual and moral development.” The ministry said it took action after receiving a memorandum from Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security about TikTok, whose owner is the Chinese firm, ByteDance. Users reported “difficulties and interruptions” in using TikTok, which was still accessible via some providers, the 24.kg news agency reported on Thursday. Opponents of the restrictions on video-based TikTok say it is part of a clampdown on free speech and other basic rights in Kyrgyzstan. They note that the authorities arrested some journalists in a separate case, and the parliament passed a law tightening control over non-governmental groups that get foreign funding. In the wake of this, the George Soros funded, Open Society Foundations, which claims it has spent more than $115 million on projects in education, public health, criminal justice, supplying water to rural communities and other areas since it opened in 1993, said earlier this week that it was closing down its Kyrgyz branch. Government officials in Kyrgyzstan started to move against TikTok last year, saying that some social networks were having a negative effect on children. The U.S. Congress is also fast-tracking legislation that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells its stake, with a vote due on Saturday. There are concerns in the U.S. that the app could share user data with the Chinese government; TikTok has said it is owned by a private company and doesn’t share such data.

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Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Consider Joint-Stock Company to Build Kambarata HPP-1

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy has announced that the draft Agreement between the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan on the joint implementation of the construction and operation of Kambarata hydroelectric power plant (HPP)-1 has been posted on Kazakhstan’s official Internet portal Open Legal Acts. Available for public discussion, the agreement outlines the terms of cooperation between the parties in the proposed construction of Kambarata HPP-1 on the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan. To implement the project, the proposed joint-stock company will be financed with 34 percent of authorized capital belonging to Kyrgyzstan, 33 percent to Kazakhstan, and 33 percent to Uzbekistan. The cost of construction is estimated between $5 billion and $6 billion and although the majority of funds will be drawn from the founders, further investment will be sought from loans and grants from international financial institutions and commercial banks. According to the draft, at the end of the project implementation period, the shares and assets of Kambarata HPP-1 will become the sole property of the Kyrgyz side. If realized, Kambarata HPP-1 will be the largest hydropower plant in Kyrgyzstan.

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Chinese Invest in Solar Power for Kyrgyzstan

On April 12, the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Akylbek Japarov unveiled plans for the construction of a solar power plant near Balykchy in the country’s northern Issyk-Kul region. Financed with an investment of $400 million by a Chinese company, the plant will have a capacity of 400 megawatts and should be operational by the end of 2025. At the celebratory launch, Japarov stated that the Cabinet of Ministers has made the harness of solar energy, wind, and biogas technologies a key priority, and applauded progressive initiatives which over the past two years, include large-scale hydroelectric power plants Kambarata (HPP)-1, Kulanak HPP and Bala-Saruu HPP, as well as hundreds of smaller hydroelectric power stations nationwide. “Our goal is to achieve energy independence. The first stage of work on Kambarata HPP-1 has been completed, and work is currently underway to update its feasibility. Once in operation, it will become the largest hydropower nation in the region.”

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World Bank Boosts Kyrgyzstan’s Agricultural Productivity and Climate Resilience

The World Bank has announced funding of $30 million to help boost the productivity and climate resilience of Kyrgyzstan’s dairy and horticulture agri-food clusters. The project will be complemented by a $5 million grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. “Recognizing agriculture as a cornerstone of the Kyrgyz Republic's economy, the World Bank prioritizes the sector alongside energy and water in its new 2024-2028 Country Partnership Framework. The new project marks the beginning of a series of initiatives designed to support the Cabinet of Ministers' vision for a modernized, competitive, and climate-resilient agricultural sector," reported Tatiana Proskuryakova, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia. Running until 2029, the initiative will help producers, processors, and other value chain participants to improve the quality and volume of their produce, access to markets through investment loans, training and capacity building, seed system enhancement, breeding, and information management. It will also focus on enhancing climate adaptation and mitigation through the promotion of climate-smart technologies as well as the employment of digital technology for accessing market information. The project will directly support 8,000 beneficiaries including individual farmers and producers, producer groups, small and medium processors, and other value chain participants in the agri-food clusters of dairy and horticulture. Indirect beneficiaries, numbering 20,000, will comprise farming communities and households of loan and training recipients, in addition to members of broader rural communities who will be afforded better jobs and opportunities to generate income.

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Construction of Waste Processing Plant Launched in Bishkek

On 29 March, Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, participated in a ceremony to mark the construction of a plant to produce electricity coupled with the disposal of solid household waste in the city of Bishkek. He was joined by the Mayor of Bishkek, Aibek Junushaliev, the Ambassador of China to the Kyrgyz Republic, Du Dewen, and the director of the Chinese company that will construct the plant. With reference to the fact that in recent years, environmental issues have been of pressing concern in the capital, he stated, “The landfill in Bishkek needed a plant for processing household waste… This project is (therefore of utmost importance).” The new plant, due for completion in November 2025 and incorporating waste incinerators, power generators, and cleaning systems, will process approximately 850 tons of solid waste per day. Japarov also reported that the Cabinet of Ministers will prioritize the construction of waste processing and incineration plants in seven of the country’s regions. A large waste incineration plant is currently being built in the city of Jalal-Abad, and a Belarusian company has begun construction of a waste incineration plant in Karakol.

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Kyrgyzstan’s First Tire Recycling Plant to Produce Crumb Rubber for Sports Grounds

On March 26th, Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, visited a tire recycling plant in the city of Tokmok in northern Kyrgyzstan. The Kumtor Gold Company has invested 19.2 million US dollars in an enterprise which uses German technology to re-tread tires of any size, and aims to increase the company’s efficiency by creating new sources of income. The plant, scheduled to open at the end of 2024 and currently operating in test mode, employs about 200 people and recycles more than 2 tons of old tires per hour. A key goal of the plant is to produce surface material from crumb rubber for use in children's sports areas at home and abroad. The initiative was welcomed by Mr Japarov who during his visit expressed the government’s readiness to install it in children’s playgrounds in schools and parks across the country.