Rural Development Scheme Needs Public Support

Turkmenistan’s government is starting up a new drive to improve the infrastructure in small towns and villages. NBCentralAsia observers say the authorities should get local communities involved to make the initiative work.



On April 2, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov signed a decree on developing a new state strategy to provide “a high standard of living conditions” for people in the smaller towns and settlements.



According to the decree, a specially-created government commission in charge must present plans for repairing and constructing social and cultural facilities, housing, and communications systems by July 1.



On a recent visit to the Balkan and Dashoguz regions, in the west and north of the country, respectively, Berdymuhammedov said the state should help develop the main towns in each district. He also told a cabinet meeting that Ruhubelent – a newly-created district in Dashoguz where the infrastructure is to be built from scratch – should serve as a model for the kind of living conditions rural residents can expect.



Local commentators have welcomed the president’s concern about living conditions in small towns and villages, and say the government should put more effort into strengthening public participation in the scheme.



Ground-up initiatives would bolster the state’s efforts and make them more more effective, according to one observer based in Ashgabat.



“The potential for public involvement is high, as the rural population is very responsive to initiatives like this. They are taking a constructive interest and have a wide range of ideas,” he said.



According to an activist from one of the few non-government organisations, NGOs, in the country, the government should use Counterpart Consortium’s three-year Local Development Initiative programme as a model. The programme, which was launched this year, offers grants to small businesses to help them take off.



At the moment, the authorities often block local initiatives, the activist said. Some of the projects launched under a previous development scheme were closed down on the orders of the state security service.



Other commentators add that while the authorities could work with informal residents’ groups, they would not cooperate with NGOs as most are not even officially registered.



“There’s no question of the state cooperating with local public organisations at the moment,” a journalist based in Ashgabat told NBCentralAsia. “Even the NGOs are absolutely against discussing the matter as virtually none of them is registered.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)