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Amid Tashkent’s rapid redevelopment, this factory cries foul over demolition
By:   []
Date: None

Laying flowers on his family plot is a rare moment of solitude for Sergei Aleksandrov. On most days, he spends his time winding through Kafkaesque layers of bureaucracy, after the factory he manages was effectively shut down by city authorities in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, in 2018.

Sergei is the general manager of Altromark, an Uzbekistan-based manufacturer of wheelchairs, established in the 1990s as the country emerged from the Soviet Union. Aleksandrov was inspired to set up the company by the difficulties faced by his son Nikita, who died aged 12, in 1994. Birth complications had left Nikita struggling with significant mobility issues and regular seizures, prompting Aleksandrov and colleagues to found Altromark, with the help of foreign investment.

Today, having survived the corrupt tenure of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, Altromark is up against a new challenge: the rapid and often opaque redevelopment of Uzbekistan.

The current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, came to power in 2016 and has overseen a programme of rapid reforms focusing on market liberalisation, modernisation of public services and privatisation. Mirziyoyev has focused on nation-building projects, with urban redevelopment and infrastructure at the core.

Tashkent is the principal staging ground for redevelopment, with a raft of new property construction and upscale commercial projects. Residents have found themselves abruptly shunted from their homes and communities without consultation or compensation, to make way for mega-developments tied to some of the country’s most influential oligarchies.

Altromark, which is owned via a US parent company, is one of the casualties. In early 2018, city authorities informed the company that its factory was to be demolished to make room for a new metro line running out to the east of the city.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/amid-tashkents-rapid-redevelopment-a-wheelchair-factory-cries-foul-over-demolition/