Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BISHKEK, June 21 (Xinhua) — “When we were children, we thought about how to keep livestock, and now young people are learning from us how to better serve tourists,” said Marat Rysaliev, 54, a resident of Kazarman village in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalal-Abad region. He credited the new road built with Chinese construction workers for the big change.
Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country. Its capital Bishkek in the north and Jalal-Abad and Osh in the south are important economic areas of the country. However, traffic on the old highway connecting the north and south of Kyrgyzstan was inconvenient.
“The road used to be bad, gravel. Accidents often happened on it,” recalls M. Rysaliev. “Heavy-duty vehicles like semi-trailers never came here. And the materials and tools needed for construction could not be brought to us.”
As one of the first countries to support and participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road, Kyrgyzstan has cooperated with China in the construction of the North-South alternative highway. The new transport route, with a total length of 433 km, has brought real conveniences and improved the well-being of local residents, and has given new impetus to the development of areas located along it.
“After the construction of the new highway was completed, it became very convenient for people to get to Jalal-Abad, and now you can get to Issyk-Kul much faster. Large loads can be easily brought,” shared M. Rysaliev, adding that there are more and more tourists in Kazarman, and a significant part of the houses in the village were given to them. And in order to provide guests with better services, local residents are beginning to study foreign languages.
Azamat Mamyrbayev is a restaurant owner in Kazarman. He enthusiastically noted the tangible benefits that the alternative North-South highway has brought to local residents. “Our residents participated in the construction of the highway. They began to receive higher wages, their solvency increased. And my restaurant business took off,” he said.
A. Mamyrbayev told Xinhua that he really likes driving on the new highway. “I often use this road to travel to Jalal-Abad and Bishkek. The road is very good, standard, and cars have started breaking down less,” he said.
However, the construction of such a road was not easy. The construction work of the first and second stages of the highway was carried out by the China Road company
According to Jin Zhe, due to the difficulties in construction work and the special geographical conditions along the route of the new highway, the builders developed special construction plans. “Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country, so we built a tunnel about 4 km long. The route of the road passes through the Naryn River, the largest waterway in the country. We built two large overpass bridges for this. All this helped accumulate a lot of experience for the implementation of similar large-scale infrastructure projects in mountainous areas in the future,” he added.
As the head of the Toguz-Toro district of the Jalal-Abad region Manas Murataliev stated, the alternative North-South highway is historically significant for the district. Its construction greatly helped improve the quality of life of the population.
“It was difficult for residents of our district to travel to Bishkek. For a long time, communications were poorly developed,” said M. Murataliev. “Now the journey to the capital along the new road takes only 5-6 hours. Previously, it took as much as 8-9 hours and even longer.”
The head of the Toguz-Toro district also emphasized that with the opening of the new highway, local and foreign investors are coming to the district. According to him, this will contribute to the development of tourism and the hotel business of the district.
“It was the Chinese builders who built this unique road through the mountain and with their hard work made a huge contribution to the economic development of our region and Kyrgyzstan as a whole. Our residents are very grateful to them,” added M. Murataliev. –0–