It takes one hour and thirty minutes to get from Andijan to Khanabad. Before departure, the press-secretary of Andijan region Mirzokhid Bоtirov in the anticipation of the trip says: “We want you to see one of the greenest cities of our region. Moreover, it is a city that has a bright investment future to it.”
As we drive through Khanabad that has a little more than 70 thousand citizens living in the city, one can notice the fall time springing to its fullest. Clean streets and renovated buildings more to that, as well as new projects coming to live. Local people refer to the city as “local Switzerland”.
We drove few kilometers and found ourselves at one of the top of the hill where the local government took over the construction a new recreational tourism zone. An area filled in with one thousand cottages offers visitors a magnificent view to the city.
Khokim (governor) of Andijan region Shukhrat Abdurakhmanov talked about his plans for future: “We aim to transform this area to a tourist appealing zone. It has a range of benefits to it: mountains and friendly environment. Unlike Andijan, it snows in Khanabad all winter. Besides, we have strong ties with investors from Azerbaijan, China and France. Our French partners have agreed to invest 55 million dollars to build a cable car from the tourist zone till Kampirravat reservoir.”
Furthermore, Azerbaijani investors are streamlining 30 million dollars to build additional 800 cottages. All of them will be available either for rent or purchase. Meanwhile, local company with Chinese capital Hanabad Qb Coin will provide electric cars for tourists’ mobility.
The manager of the latter company Evgeniy Lyo touched on the investment potential of Khanabad: “Partial localization of electric vehicles will take place in the city. In a longer run we are planning to cover the whole Uzbekistan. Currently, we are at the development stage and already brought 11 samples from mini-buses to police cars and fire trucks.”
It is only 77 kilometers from Andijan till Khanabad, yet transport infrastructure linking two cities hasn’t been fully completed. When asked about steps in fixing existing problem Shukhrat Abdurakhmanov points at load of unsolved issues that he and his team are yet to put a hand on: “We are working closely with hotels in Andijan. We are asking them to provide transportation services for those willing to visit Khanabad.”
Back in spring local joint stock company “Uzbekistan Railways” announced the plans on renovating the “Andijan-Savay-Khanabad” route. Moreover, Khokim unveiled plans to reconstruct the airport of Andijan city: “We have established the partnership with Turkish company to introduce cargo and upgrade local terminal. The project worth 120 million dollars will kick-off next year,” says the governor. “The same company wants to purchase 20 buses to link Tashkent and Andijan,” he added.
Abdurakhmanov also touched on the issue that is rather fragile to the region: water and electricity supply. He says the local government is taking actions in ensuring sustainable supply of bоth resources. For that they are planning to make use of reservoir that contains 2 billion tons of water along with two hydroelectric power stations.
In the eyes of Khokimiyat of Andijan region, Khanabad, today, is a new and ambitious project. Last week, they presented its investment potential within the first international forum Open Andijan. As a result, they brought investments worth 405 million dollars that boosts investment cooperation.
Jakhongir Azimov
“Dunyo” IA
