Uzbekistan announces New Karshi, a planned city for 500,000 residents

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev unveiled plans for a new city near Karshi during a visit to the Kashkadarya region on October 22. New Karshi is to be built on 5,200 hectares of previously unused desert and pastureland between the Tashkent–Samarkand highway and the road to Shahrisabz.

The preliminary master plan envisages 500,000 residents, and the president asked planners to allow for up to 1 million in future. Tram, trolleybus and light-metro lines would link the airport and railway station to the city. The regional administration and other public institutions will relocate there, and a congress hall, concert venues and hotels are planned.

A separate part of the project is a 235-hectare tourism complex along the Karshi Main Canal, with a three-kilometre promenade, hotels, restaurants, a museum, an aqua park and an artificial lake for boating, to be built in four phases. The first phase covers 30 hectares and includes a crafts village and a tourism zone.