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Home Demolitions and the Housing Crisis,
One of the most controversial topics in Mirziyoyev’s Uzbekistan has been the impact of the recent
building boom on ordinary citizens. As Dilmira Matyakubova’s essay on the high profile Tashkent City
project points out, physical renewal has been used as a symbol of prospective economic renewal,
with Soviet era buildings being replaced by shiny modern edifices. However, as with many
regeneration projects around the world, those who previously lived in these areas have not always
benefited from the changes.
There have been a number of initiatives taken by the Government to promote regeneration, housing
and commercial development to boost housing supply and economic growth. For example many of
the major projects in Tashkent, such as Tashkent City, fall under the Presidential Decree from July
2017 July entitled ‘
on measures to improve the architectural appearance and improvement of the
central part of Tashkent, as well as creation of appropriate conditions for the population and visitors
to the capital.
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The Government of Uzbekistan also has two state directed regeneration
programmes the Obod Mahalla (Prosperous Neighbourhood) and Obod Qishloq (Prosperous
Villages) aimed at improving infrastructure in local communities, the latter project now being backed
by $100 million in grants from the World Bank.
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According to the President in 2019, “large-scale
construction and improvement works were carried out in 479 villages and auls, as well as 116 urban
mahallas. 6.1 trillion Soms were directed for these purposes.”
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In addition to specific initiatives, there has been clear pressure from the top to deliver new
developments in communities across Uzbekistan. According to the President, the schemes delivered
34,700 new residential units in 2019, evenly split across urban and rural areas.
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The experience of
long-standing communities being displaced and cast aside by both urban renewal initiatives and
market driven gentrification is far from a being a problem unique to Uzbekistan but the particular
challenges faced by local residents highlight some of the issues the country faces around rule of law
and corruption.
In the autumn of 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers produced a new resolution, entitled ‘On ensuring
the guarantee of property rights of citizens and business entities, as well as the procedure for
seizure of land plots and compensation for damage to property owners’, which set out to try and
bring order to a construction boom that was beginning to resemble some of the worst aspects of
both the Soviet era and the Wild West.
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The new rules set out the revised legal grounds for
compulsory purchase which now included expanded provisions for ‘projects of investment and socio-
economic importance, aimed at the integrated development of territories, including the development
and improvement of the architectural appearance of a certain territory (hereinafter referred to as
investment projects)’, giving a clearer legal basis for practices that had already been taking place for
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DECREE CABINET OF MINISTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN, On measures to improve the architectural appearance and
landscaping of the central part of the city of Tashkent, as well as create appropriate conditions for the population and guests of the
capital, July 2017 https://lex.uz/docs/3295075#3295185; President.uz, Appointed hokim of Tashkent, December
2018, https://president.uz/ru/lists/view/2210
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The World Bank, Prosperous Villages, https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P168233?lang=en; The
details of the proposal can be seen here though this was when the funding request was for $75 million: The World Bank, Uzbekistan
Prosperous Villages, October 2018, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/502791539523038928/text/Concept-Project-
Information-Document-Integrated-Safeguards-Data-Sheet-Uzbekistan-Prosperous-Villages-Obod-Qishloq-P168233.txt
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Lee Kyung-sik, “Uzbekistan enters a new decade; great opportunities open up to spearhead transformation even deeper”, The Korea
Post, February 2020, http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=20207
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Ibid.
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Regulation.gov.uz, Discussion of draft regulatory documents of the Republic of Uzbekistan:
https://regulation.gov.uz/ru/document/7229?fbclid=IwAR19IJcUd8_f9iJGTecLG8KiA1-dCu9byP1JEYZa4azoJniviPZTLygh7A
Spotlight on Uzbekistan
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several years in the absence of a specific framework .
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