ASHGABAT (TCA) — Authorities in Turkmenistan have launched a campaign to register army reservists — nearly all men under 50 — amid concerns about militants in neighboring Afghanistan, according to a Defense Ministry source and accounts by citizens, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reported.

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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Gas-rich Turkmenistan is experiencing an economic downturn largely caused by decreasing hard-currency revenues from natural-gas exports, and ordinary Turkmen citizens are the first ones who feel the pinch of the crisis. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by Eurasianet:

Only on the 10th day of the new year did municipal workers in Turkmenistan’s capital take down the rich array of festive trees laden with blazing fairy lights.

The holiday euphoria, meanwhile, faded faster as people began to come to terms with the new reality of utility bills and continue to cope with the ever-present strain of price rises and shortages.

In 1993, soon after the Soviet experiment collapsed, the government in newly independent Turkmenistan reverted to state largesse as the heart of an unspoken compact.
In return for submission to a suffocating police state, the population was granted free electricity, household gas, water and even salt.

Talk of scrapping those handouts has been in the air for some years, but finally came into effect this January 1. The decision was nominally adopted in September by the People’s Council, which consists of a vast and photogenic assembly of robed and bearded town elders and numerous members of the national and regional ruling elite. In reality, it was President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov who willed the change, citing his desire to see Turkmenistan evolve into a market economy.

Although they had ample time to prepare, authorities were caught short and forced to scramble to put the necessary infrastructure into place.

In Ashgabat, the water company failed to evaluate how many customers they actually serve and, as a result, had nowhere near enough meters to hand out. Every day, long lines would form at the company’s headquarters as homeowners tried to get their hands on the legally mandated piece of equipment. Such is the backlog that the water company has agreed to push back the deadline for fitting meters to January 15. When that happens, households will have to pay 0.50 manat for each cubic meter of water that they use.

While the official and immovable rate is 3.5 to the dollar, the manat’s value on the black market is a moving feast and was reportedly, as of late December, closer to 18 to the dollar.

The installation of gas meters appears to have gone a little more smoothly. It helped when Berdymukhamedov spoke on the issue at one Cabinet meeting and ordered the Interior Minister to take personal charge over the process.

The injunction had the desired effect, only with one hitch. Households were required to pay 260 manat (almost $75 at the official rate) for the actual meter. The government touted its willingness to install the counter free-of-charge as a gesture of generosity, although even this was not quite so. The cost of any additional equipment or pipes needed during fitting also had to be borne by the bill-payer.

All seemed to be going well until the dying days of the year, when the gas meters too ran out. People panicked as they worried that they could face fines for bill-dodging until the equipment was in place.

But “don’t worry, there will be no fines,” one gas utility employee assured a worried customer.

In the end, a consignment of Ukrainian-made meters was delivered. At 255 manats, these were even cheaper.

“The previous batch of counters had filters, the new ones don’t,” a representative for utility company Ashgorgaz explained cryptically, while insisting the Ukrainian models were perfectly safe.

The price has been set at 20 manat per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.

In truth, these charges are by any reckoning minute and should be affordable for most households. The subsidy-based economy is going nowhere for now.

Then again, the rushed and haphazard implementation of the paid utilities regime has created much irritation and frustration. Because television and other state media still find it awkward to dwell on the fact that gas and water are no longer free, homeowners need to pump the utility providers or else rely on word of mouth for information.

“Is it really so difficult just to publish all the documents and laws so that the population could understand what it is we are paying for or not?” said Dursun, a pensioner in her sixties.

In another customary gesture to raise holiday spirits, word was sent out for price reductions to be imposed on a whole array of foodstuffs in state stores and bazaars. Market traders are private operators, so their adherence to this edict was eagerly monitored by plainclothes inspectors.

Sure enough, the revised price tags duly appeared, which prompted a scramble to the bazaar. Beef and mutton, which was discounted from around 28 manat to 18 manat per kilogram, was especially popular.

So as not to incur undue losses, however, meat-sellers put everything out on display. Fine cuts hung alongside entrails, throat and fatty gristle. At the reduced price, customers got a mixture of everything.

“They will not let us put up prices,” market trader Mukhammed told one shopper unwilling to part with his money for offal.

Those willing to pay higher prices for quality product had to enter secretive negotiations with the traders. The demand for any kind of meat was so great that shoppers formed lines from daybreak. Some even ignored the Islamic proscription on pork.

Elsewhere at a bazaar in Ashgabat, there was a brisk trade for apples, bananas, tomatoes, kiwis and pomegranates, which sold for between five and seven manat a kilogram. While certain fruits are imported, there is also a fair amount of domestic product. Turkmen bananas, for example, are succulent and popular.

One of the most difficult things to find was eggs, which are sold in state stores on a strictly rationed basis – each buyer is limited to between 12 and 15 units. It is not clear whether it is the shortage or the rationing that leads to stocks disappearing rapidly at the start of every day. Large lines form in the morning and the early bird gets the egg – latecomers leave with nothing.

With the holidays now over, the picture has changed dramatically.

Price-tags on the aforementioned groceries are marked at the holiday rate, but the real charge has succumbed to the dictates of the market.

The year began on the sourest note for consumers of alcohol. Under a law that came into effect on January 1, prices for intoxicating beverages have risen by around one-fifth across the board.

The most acceptable locally made vodka now costs around 30 manat, while imported vodka is unaffordable to the regular citizen. Kindzmarauli wine from Georgia costs upward of an eye-watering 250 manat. Hardened booze-hounds rely as before on Turkmen wine, which retails at around $3 a bottle and can be bought by the glass over shop counters.

Alcohol has even become more difficult to find and drink. Under new rules, a long list of places is now off-limits for drinking – city parks, public squares, forests, beaches, train stations, airports, seaports, government offices, underpasses and elevators. And it is now not permitted to buy alcohol in trains, ferries, educational facilities, sports venues and small retail outlets like kiosks.

The age limit for buying alcohol has been raised, U.S.-style, from 18 to 21 years. Still, on New Year’s Day a Eurasianet correspondent saw a clearly underage customer buying beer in a small store in Ashgabat – a twofold violation of the law. The wariness factor is already in place though. The shopkeeper had hid his stash of beer behind bottles of oil.

TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan has taken decisive, bold steps towards openness and reform. Since President Mirziyoyev took office in September 2016, he has implemented a far reaching change process which has taken even long-term observers by surprise in light of its breadth and depth, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) First Vice President Jürgen Rigterink said while opening the German-Uzbek Business Forum on January 14 in Berlin.

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ASTANA (TCA) — More than 1.2 million people visited the Khorgos International Center of Boundary Cooperation (ICBC) in 2018, an 8-percent increase compared to 2017, the press service of national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy said.

The Khorgos ICBC is located on the Kazakh-Chinese border in Kazakhstan’s Almaty province, and is a major international transport, transit and trading hub between Kazakhstan and China.

The growth of visits was facilitated by measures to create conditions for conducting transparent business of investors and visiting tourists. Thus, the luggage terminal was reconstructed and enlarged from 900 to 3,500 square meters. The fleet of 15 low-tonnage cargo vehicles has been updated. This allowed reducing the time of delivery of visitors’ goods from the baggage collection points to the point of delivery in the baggage terminal. There is a single operator for comfortable movement of visitors.

Currently, the issues of exemption of Kazakhstan and foreign participants of FEZ ICBC Khorgos from payment of basic taxes, except the social tax, are being resolved.

The assignment to ICBC Khorgos — a unique project of Kazakhstan and China for trade, economic, tourism and investment cooperation — of the status of Free Economic Zone (FEZ) created favorable conditions for the development of business and investment in the territory of Kazakhstan.

In 2018, 12 investment companies were attracted with a total construction area of 32.7 hectares and a building area of 193,000 square meters. Over the years of operation of ICBC Khorgos, 21 contracts for the construction of investment facilities were signed. The area of land plots at Khorgos was 113.5 hectares with the exception of infrastructure facilities, and the area of premises was 805.4 thousand square meters.

KABUL (TCA) — India and Afghanistan have signed agreements to implement 26 projects worth $9.5 million in Afghanistan amid a changing geopolitical scenario in the region. While the US has been urging India to send its armed forces to the war-torn nation, India has reiterated its commitment to complete infrastructure projects it has promised to Afghanistan, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — Power supply in south Uzbekistan will be significantly improved thanks to the creation of additional generation capacity at the existing Talimarjan power plant (TPP) with the help of a sovereign loan of up to US$ 240 million provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to JSC Uzbekenergo. The project will be the largest EBRD investment in Uzbekistan to date, the Bank said on January 14.

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