Tashkent plans to establish a special 'housing bank' for property owners whose homes are included in urban renewal programs. This pilot initiative will be implemented by Tashkent Invest by 2031 based on a presidential decree by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, concerning the socio-economic development of the capital.
The new mechanism will allow for the provision of apartments from a designated housing reserve either as compensation for seized property or as temporary housing until the completion of the new residential building construction. The procedure for distributing such housing in Tashkent's renewal zones will be approved by the Tashkent City Council.
To create the housing bank, Tashkent Invest can utilize funds from the Tashkent City Development Fund and other legal sources of financing. Property acquisition will be carried out through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. According to the decree, state property in renewal areas will be transferred to the company at residual value. State enterprise assets must be sold to Tashkent Invest at a market price determined by an independent appraiser, with the possibility of phased payment over up to three years.
The company will also be granted the right to sell buildings constructed or renovated within the scope of renewal projects via online auctions. Contractors for construction and installation work will be selected according to national legislation. Previously, Rustam Kodirov, Deputy General Director of Tashkent Invest, noted that the renewal program does not involve mass demolition of old housing. He emphasized that decisions on reconstruction are made only after a technical inspection confirms the building's unsafety and threat to residents' life or health.
In the initial phase, an inspection of about 2,200 two-story residential buildings constructed between the 1930s and 1970s is planned. Kodirov stressed that the age of the building itself is not grounds for inclusion in the program. Currently, Tashkent Invest is developing renewal projects in the Mirabad, Yashnabad, and Sergeli districts. The company is negotiating with developers to ensure residents are relocated as close as possible to their current places of residence.
Property owners will be offered three compensation options: a monetary payment, temporary relocation followed by return to a new apartment after construction completion, or an apartment of equivalent value in another district. Residents can find out if their building is included in the renewal program through the local mahalla community council. Additionally, special project offices have been established in the affected areas where Tashkent Invest representatives advise residents.
Joint Stock Company 'Tashkent Invest', which is under the control of the capital's hokimiyat, has acquired significant new powers and rights, confirming its status as a major owner of urban real estate.
The company will create a so-called 'apartment bank'. This bank is intended for providing housing for rent and making compensation payments to owners of property located in renovation zones. The acquisition of residential and non-residential premises for this purpose will be carried out through a request for proposals, using funds from the Tashkent Development Fund and other authorized sources.
In addition, 'Tashkent Invest' will take on the role of the client when implementing market sites. State shares in these markets, which will be put up for public auction, will come under the management of this company. Furthermore, in the fourth point of the document, the company was granted exclusive rights to certain land plots, although the document does not reflect tasks regarding increasing transparency and accountability in connection with the expansion of its powers.
The new bus stops in Tashkent are part of a large-scale project that involves multi-billion investments and a ten-year lease. The right to operate these updated complexes was granted to one operator.
According to information presented in a letter from the Tashkent hokimiyat to the Presidential Administration, the city has 2,871 bus stops. 496 stop complexes were put up for auction: 266 with advertising structures and 230 without them. Formally, three companies participated in the tenders, but the document only names the winner—EWI Snacks LLC, which specializes in snack production.
EWI Snacks LLC received the right to operate all listed objects and committed to paying an annual rent of 1.7 billion soums to the city budget. It is important to note that this scheme does not imply a direct transfer of stops to a private firm or financing of construction from the city budget. Instead, the investor independently creates and equips the complexes, receiving the right to use them for ten years. The main income from the project will likely be generated through the commercial monetization of the complexes themselves, primarily through advertising space and additional services.
A question arises as to how a company whose main activity is related to snack production became a participant in the auction for urban transport infrastructure. The hokimiyat provided context indicating the structure of EWI Snacks LLC. The sole founder of this company is East-West Invest, known as a producer of snacks under the Cheers brand and the official representative of Pepsi in Uzbekistan. Shares in East-West Invest are distributed between the Cypriot company Redlex Trans Ltd, which owns 98.21%, and Shahzod Khalimov, who holds 1.79%.
Furthermore, the hokimiyat's letter notes that entrepreneur Shukhrat Ergashev is the 100% founder of Redlex Trans Ltd. This person is named as the beneficiary of enterprises producing drinks under the PepsiCo brand and is also recognized as one of the country's major advertisers.
The hokimiyat's letter also reveals details regarding the costs of creating the new stop network and the investor's obligations. The cost of the complexes varies depending on the level of equipment. The most basic option—a four-meter pavilion without advertising elements—is estimated at approximately 42.1 million soums. If an LED screen is added, the cost of the same format increases to 114.3 million soums. The most expensive is the six-meter complex, equipped with an advertising screen and a vending machine, which will cost approximately 178.9 million soums.
The investor is responsible not only for installing the pavilions but also for carrying out a number of infrastructure tasks. Each object must be equipped with an electronic display to show vehicle arrivals, video surveillance systems, an emergency call button '112 SOS', bins, benches, ramps, and tactile paving for visually impaired people. The operator is also obliged to ensure the landscaping of the adjacent area.
A separate section of the document addresses the topic of stop air conditioning. The hokimiyat explains that cooling is not planned for most new complexes, citing examples from Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore, where priority is given to air conditioning the public transport itself and minimizing bus waiting times. According to the administration's estimates, the annual cost of installing and maintaining one air conditioner in Uzbekistan amounts to 18–22 million soums, and its energy consumption exceeds the capacity of solar panels that can be installed on the roof of a standard stop.
Nevertheless, the authorities reserve the right to introduce closed, cooled pavilions on a trial basis in areas with high passenger traffic. Thus, the new model requires the private operator to fulfill a wide range of obligations to the city: from installing necessary equipment and landscaping to full commissioning of the facilities. The effectiveness of the entire project will be determined by how timely and qualitatively these conditions are met during the ten-year lease period.
