Tag Archives: society

Investor buys buses in Kazakh city

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Green Bus Company, a private transport company from Shymkent, has bought a 70% stake in Almatyelectrotrans, the company in charge of public transit in Almaty. Baurzhan Baibek, mayor of Almaty, said the new investor has pledged to buy 200 new buses. Almaty City will retain a 30% share in Almatyelectrotrans. Almaty’s transport network has been mired in controversy after a crash last year injured several people. Dozens of bus drivers have also protested over a new ticketing system.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Returning Tajik migrants pressure social systems

JAN. 29 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — A recession in Russia and the collapse of the rouble has slowed remittances to Tajikistan and forced thousands of migrant workers back home, pressuring jobs, resources and social infrastructure.

Last week, Russia’s migrant service said that there were only 863,000 Tajik workers in Russia, down by a third from last year.

Tajikistan, with its poor, agricultural economy, cannot absorb the increasing number of returning migrants.

Toshboltaev Bozorboy, a 50-year- old man, was one of the returnees. He arrived back in December and said

that he’s been unable to find a job since he flew back to Tajikistan.

“I used to work in construction sites in Moscow earning 20,000 roubles a month ($263) but there is still no other option for me except to leave for Russia,” he said.

The economic downturn started in mid-2014 when oil prices started to fall and Western-imposed sanctions on Russia started to bite. Remittances from workers abroad make up around half of Tajikistan’s GDP and the economic slowdown has had a huge impact. Most Tajiks who lost their jobs in Russia said they were unable to find new jobs in Tajikistan.

Firuz Iskandarov, 23, quit Russia in August 2014. He has been out of work since then.

“Since coming back from Russia, I have done some farming and selling fruits. But that is a seasonal work. I don’t know what we are going to do,” he said, his voice choking with emotion.

For the authorities, returning migrants are a serious issue. A migration expert in Dushanbe said: “For most it will be difficult to find a decent job, and they will not be able to provide for their families. And this can lead to an increase in domestic violence, suicide, and a deterioration in criminal situations in the country.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Kazakhstan’s EXPO-2017 cuts budget

JAN. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) -The organisers of Kazakhstan’s flagship EXPO-2017 event have cut its budget by 53b tenge ($140m) to keep pace with demands from the government to slash spending during this period of low oil revenue. Previously, nothing had seemingly been too expensive or too extravagant for EXPO-2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgian PM gives $185,000 to Church

JAN. 16 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili gave $185,000 to the Georgian Orthodox Church the day after taking office at the end of last year, local media reported by quoting official documents, attracting derision from opponents.

The donation was taken from the President’s Reserve Fund, a cash stockpile used for natural disasters and other emergencies such as the Tbilisi flood in 2015.

The President’s Reserve Fund totals $2m, meaning that the amount donated to the Church measured nearly 10% of its total value.

“The money-flow from the state to the Church is unstructured and we need to support the Church’s educational infrastructure,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

His opponents, though, have accused him of using funds ear- marked to save lives and rebuild homes and businesses after emergencies for his own political needs.

Eka Chitanava, Director of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute, an NGO working on religious freedom in Georgia, said: “The latest $185,000 donated by the PM is significant. The money was taken from the natural disaster budget, a fund they are not supposed to use for this.”

The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the most powerful institutions in Georgia and its support would be useful to Mr Kvirikashvili and his Georgian Dream coalition in helping to win a parliamentary election scheduled for October.

It holds great sway over Georgia’s traditionally conservative society.

There was also frustration among ordinary Georgians over Mr Kvirikashvili’s donation.

“I understand the church is important,” Khatuna Gvelesiani, 30, said. “But to take it from a fund which should cover natural disaster, like the flood we had in June, can’t be justified. I am outraged.”

The Georgian Dream was the first political party ever to be endorsed by the Church in 2012 although this support has waned. It faces a tough battle to win the October election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Protesters and police clash again in regional Azerbaijanji town

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police and protesters angry about worsening economic conditions in Azerbaijan clashed briefly in the town of Quba, north of Baku, three days after demonstrations sprung up in several regional towns.

Media reports from Quba said that police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control the demonstration. Protesters are angry at a sharp rise in prices after a devaluation of the manat at the end of last month.

Similarly to the earlier protests, police moved in after the end of the stand-off and detained dozens of demonstrators.

There have been no other demonstrations since.

These were the most serious civil disturbances this year in Central Asia and the South Caucasus linked to the economic slowdown and have worried the Azerbaijani government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

First Armenian leader gets ill

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first leader of post-Soviet Armenia, has been flown to the United States for emergency treatment on what local media have described as a cancer. Mr Ter-Petrosyan, 71, was president of Armenia between 1991 and 1998. He has since become a vocal opponent of the government and was blamed for whipping up street protests in 2008 that culminated in police shooting dead at least 10 people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Irritation rises at new bus ticketing system in Kazakh city

JAN. 22 2016, ALMATY/Kazakhstan (The Conway Bulletin) — Bus drivers in Kazakhstan’s financial capital have been striking because of the introduction of an electronic ticketing system which they say makes their job harder, one side of a row that highlights the problems introducing modern ticketing systems into Soviet-era systems brings.

Under the new system, passengers buy a day pass for the bus system for 400 tenge and tap in and out on a monitor in the body of the bus. Under the old system, passengers bought separate tickets for each journey.

From Oct. 1, Almaty was the first city in Kazakhstan to operate an electronic ticket system. Until Jan. 11 it ran alongside the previous token system. Since then, though, it has become the only way for passengers to pay their travel fares. And many don’t like it.

Kuralai Abenova, a frequent user of public transport said: “I like this cashless system but I am afraid I’d forget this card at home. If I ride without this card, I will be fined.”

According to the head of Almaty’s public transport network, Dauren Alimbekov, the new ticketing system cost $12m to introduce.

His staff also said that the bus drivers who went on strike and were deemed to be in breach of their contract would be sacked.

As for the bus drivers they have said that up to 40% of the passengers now ride the bus for free.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani organisers deny F1 race

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The organisers of Azerbaijan’s first Formula 1 race, scheduled for June, denied that the current economic downturn has hit their plans to stage the event. They were responding to media reports that they were going to have to downgrade their plans after a 50% fall in the value of their manat currency over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

2nd Mortgage protest takes place in Kazakhstan

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 women covered in grey sheets marched in protest to Kazkommertsbank and Bank Center Credit to complain about how they treat mortgage holders, their second protest this month. The protesters said that they have struggled to pay their debts since the the tenge lost 50% of its value during a devaluation in August. The authorities in Kazakhstan fear economic problems will trigger social discontent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Turkmen officials burn cigarettes

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials burnt piles of cigarettes in another indication that the reclusive state is on the brink of an outright ban on smoking, the AP news agency reported. Earlier this month, AFP reported that officials had told storekeepers to remove cigarettes from their shelves. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known to hate smoking.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)