Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 29 January, a video conference meeting was held under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on priority tasks in the areas of housing and communal services, construction, transport and ecology.

In order to create decent conditions and ensure quality of life, large-scale work is being carried out in these areas. Last year, more than 1 thousand infrastructure facilities and about 2 thousand apartment buildings were built in the regions. Roads, water supply and heating networks have been built. New buses and planes were brought in to expand transport services.

However, many shortcomings remain in the implementation of modern standards and quality assurance in the construction industry. The cost of drinking water and losses in water supply networks have not been reduced. The frequency of domestic air transportation is 2-3 times less than required. Transporting goods by rail takes a long time. The problem of traffic jams in the city of Tashkent is becoming more and more urgent. Not enough measures are being taken to prevent air pollution.

At the beginning of the meeting, held in a keenly critical spirit, the causes and factors of these problems were analyzed. Disciplinary measures were taken against a number of officials for shortcomings in their work.

A decision was made to introduce performance indicators (KPIs) into the activities of all ministers and deputy khokims responsible for construction, housing and communal services, transport and ecology.

This year, as part of the investment program, it is planned to build 1,637 infrastructure facilities. The head of our state drew attention to the need for efficient use of budget funds and ensuring the quality of construction.

Current design and construction practices are based on the resource method. Design organizations try to “inflate” the cost of the object as much as possible. There are cases of theft and theft during construction.

In this regard, a decision was made to reorganize all processes from design to commissioning of the facility. Thus, from 1 January next year, when preparing design estimates, construction and acceptance, the volumetric method will be used instead of the resource method.

This procedure will be introduced from 1 July of this year for projects for the construction of roads, drinking water supply facilities and bridges. To eradicate corruption in these areas, all contract agreements will be digitalized, work performed by the contractor will be financed only on the basis of an electronic invoice submitted to the tax authority, the process of accepting a facility into operation will be digitized, and acceptance certificates will be approved through the national information system "Chaffof Qurilish." Also, through this system, subcontractors will be selected for projects worth more than 10 billion soums.

This procedure will also apply to projects with the participation of international financial organizations; a system will be created that will allow online tracking of where and how much money is spent on construction materials.

It is emphasized that all calculations and cost-saving measures should be taken into account at the project development stage. For this purpose, a project office will be created in the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services. When developing projects worth more than 10 billion soums, the office will evaluate their feasibility, safety and energy efficiency. The office will also annually develop standard projects for schools, kindergartens, medical institutions, roads, drinking water supply and heat supply facilities. From now on, project documents without the recommendation of the Project Office will not be accepted for state examination.

Responsible persons were instructed to update building standards based on foreign experience, suppress the shadow economy in the field of building materials and launch their electronic classifier. It was also determined that from 1 January 2025, all purchases from budget funds will be carried out through the “E-ombor” platform of the Tax Committee.

This year, in cooperation with international organizations, new projects worth US$2.5 billion will be launched. It was noted that from now on the technical and economic justification of such projects will also be subject to mandatory examination.

The system for implementing projects through external borrowing will also change. In this case, the project assessment report and feasibility study will be combined into one project document, which will reduce the approval process to 8-9 months. It will not be allowed to attract debt for a project for which the feasibility study has not been approved.

The meeting noted shortcomings in city planning. Due to the lack of a systematic approach, the development of social infrastructure, services and jobs does not occur evenly in all cities. In some cases, disorderly development is allowed and the architectural appearance of the streets is not taken into account.

In this regard, the need to strengthen legislation regulating unauthorized and illegal constructions and create a new control system with the participation of relevant departments was emphasized.
The goal is to develop master plans for 170 cities and towns this year and at least 300 next year. For this purpose, the “Mening Hududim” platform will be launched, each master plan will be discussed with the population, and public control will be established over its implementation.

The head of our state particularly touched upon the issue of the high cost of new housing, caused by insufficient access of construction companies to financial resources. In this regard, a proposal has been put forward to create a Mortgage Support Fund.

The goal has been set to build 1.8 thousand houses with 80 thousand apartments this year and increase the number of Yangi Uzbekistan communities to 45.

During the analysis of the public utility sector, it was noted that energy losses are high in most apartment buildings. Therefore, a special energy saving program in homes will be implemented. A differentiated approach will be applied to the choice of heat supply systems for apartment buildings - centralized, local or individual, and some boiler houses will be converted to cogeneration. Thanks to this, in 2024 alone it will be possible to save 600 thousand gigacalories of thermal energy and 2.5 billion kilowatts of electricity.

In recent years, US$2.5 billion has been raised from international financial organizations as part of 25 projects in the field of drinking water supply. Last year alone, 8 trillion soums were allocated for this from all sources. This year it is planned to provide centralized drinking water to another 1.5 million people.

Responsible persons were instructed to update and implement uniform drinking water quality standards at all water supply facilities, modernize pumps, and reduce the cost of supplies.

It was also noted that, as an experiment, private partners will be involved in water supply to 5 cities - Kagan, Shirin, Yangiyer, Bekabad and Yangiyul.

The issues of repairing multi-storey buildings and renting out their basements were also touched upon. Now the relevant data will be digitalized and made publicly available to residents and entrepreneurs in the Mening Uyim system.

Measures have been identified to repay loans and reduce the debt of management companies and partnerships.

In general, it is indicated that the time has come to introduce a single billing account for payments for electricity, gas, water, heat, waste and tax payments.
Regarding the transport sector, special attention is paid to increasing the coverage of public transport. Instructions were given on the purchase of new buses and the transfer of passenger transportation in cities to financing using a gross contract system.

The high share of the shadow economy in road construction and the weak activity of the Transport Inspectorate responsible for this issue were pointed out. Responsible persons have been instructed to bring more than 40 standards and norms in road construction into compliance with the requirements of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers.

The importance of increasing rail traffic on international routes and increasing the production of freight and passenger cars was emphasized. A decision was made to transfer the Kokand, Samarkand and Tashkent railway stations, Andijan and Urgench airports to the private sector. The airfields of Shakhrisabz, Sariosiyo and Kokand will also be repaired and internal civil air traffic will be organized there.

Instructions were also given to find a solution to the problem of traffic jams and modernize the drainage system in the city of Tashkent.

A healthy environment is one of the most pressing issues today.

Since 2020, 22 thousand new industrial enterprises have been launched in our country. In general, today more than 2 million tons of pollutants are released into the atmosphere by industrial enterprises and transport. In many cases, construction projects and projects are implemented without environmental impact assessment.

In this regard, it was determined that from April 1, a rating of air, water and environmental pollution by region will be introduced.

The task has been set to begin installing automatic air monitoring stations in the cities of Tashkent and Nukus, regional centers and 20 industrial areas.

At large production facilities and all cement plants, modern gas cleaning and dust collection equipment will be installed and old gas cleaning and dust collection equipment will be replaced. Construction materials, energy and metallurgy enterprises will create a “green belt” of 5 hectares around themselves, and a total of 10 million trees will be planted.

Over the next five years, 3 thousand hectares of “green belts” and 200 hectares of parks will be created in the city of Tashkent and neighboring areas of the Tashkent region.

In the city of Tashkent, boards and monitors will be installed that regularly announce air quality indicators. Also, the movement of heavy vehicles and cars older than 10 years will be gradually limited on the streets of the capital. From 1 January, 2025, the issue of abandoning AI-80 gasoline will be resolved.

Measures have been identified to transfer public transport in the city of Tashkent to electricity and gas, and to increase the metro car fleet. In order to support “green energy”, prevent environmental problems and reduce harmful consequences, a system will be introduced to encourage the population to switch to electric vehicles.

At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Ministers, ministers and khokims reported on work plans for the current year.