New Tashkent opens seven facilities worth $1 billion and breaks ground on ten projects worth $2.5 billion

On 12 October Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the opening of new facilities in New Tashkent, the largest urban development project in the country's history. Seven facilities worth a combined $1 billion were commissioned: the first phase of the Sharq Bahori housing complex with almost 7,000 apartments, a school for 2,000 pupils, Sohil Bogi park with 10 km of waterfront walking and cycling paths, a Chamber of Commerce and Industry building, 18 km of roads, 13 km of sewers and 4.5 km of drinking-water mains.

The energy facilities include Substation No. 1, built with China's Haocheng for $95 million, and a trigeneration plant built with Türkiye's MIMSAN for $73 million. The plant produces electricity, heat and cooling at the same time and can supply central heating and cooling to 100,000 households.

Work also began on ten new projects worth $2.5 billion with partners from China, Türkiye, the UAE and other countries. They include the Deep Tech Park industrial zone for semiconductor and high-tech production (initial investment $320 million), a waste-to-energy scheme, 20 MW of rooftop solar panels on apartment buildings, the 818,000 m² Metropolis business district, an underground car park linked to the metro and a 120-bed central hospital.

Thanking the builders, engineers and foreign partners, the President said the projects would make New Tashkent a centre of business, tourism and culture. The first phase of the project, launched three years ago, is valued at $50 billion; $2 billion worth of housing, universities, a library and an amphitheatre have been completed so far.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is also familiar with the project: during his visit to Uzbekistan on 23 August he and Shavkat Mirziyoyev viewed the city model at the New Tashkent presentation centre and were briefed on its concept of a "green and safe" fifth-generation city.