VZCZCXRO7313
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0390/01 0881228
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281228Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0513
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3561
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RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1246
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1815
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2363
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
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RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000390 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB 
TREASURY FOR BAKER/LANIER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN'S RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOCUSES ON 
INFRASTRUCTURE, RATHER THAN EXPERTISE 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 0201 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (U) SUMMARY:  The long-awaited National Program on Rural 
Development finally became public in March 2008.  The Government of 
Turkmenistan plans to spend $3.661 billion on development in the 
provinces between 2008-2020.  Each province was allocated 15-16 
trillion manats ($800 million), except for the oil-rich Balkan 
region, which only got about half that amount.  The program 
specifies the sectors the government intends to focus on and the 
activities to be undertaken.  The education, water supply, and 
electricity sectors received most of the funds.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PROGRAM ROLL OUT 
 
¶3.  (U) The National Program of the President of Turkmenistan on 
reforming social/living conditions of the population of villages, 
settlements, cities of districts and district centers for the period 
of 2020 -- the official title of the program -- has been one of 
President Berdimuhamedov's most important initiatives since his 
inauguration.  This program encompasses a broad range of social and 
economic sectors, including education, healthcare, sports, water 
supply, roads, electricity and gas supply, telecommunications, and 
housing.  First announced on April 2007, the National Program was 
finally completed in March 2008.  The total amount of funds 
allocated for the program is 72,501 trillion manats ($3.661 
billion).  The total amount of funds is divided among Turkmenistan's 
five provinces as follows: 
 
Ahal   16.4 trillion manats ($828 million) 
Balkan    8.8 trillion manats ($444 million) 
Dashoguz   15.8 trillion manats ($798 million) 
Lebap  15.3 trillion manats ($773 million) 
Mary   16.2 trillion manats ($818 million). 
 
Implementation will take place in three phases: I) 2008 - 2010, II) 
2011 - 2015, III) 2016 - 2020.  The program indicates the percentage 
of funds to be spent for each phase in every region. 
 
SECTOR DIVISION 
 
¶4.  (U) In addition to the division of the funds among the regions, 
the program also oversees the distribution of funds among various 
sectors: 
 
-- HEALTHCARE ($74 million) 
 
A total of 1.461 trillion manats ($74 million) is allocated to 
improve the healthcare system in the regions.  Mainly, the funds 
will be directed towards constructing new hospitals, renovating 
existing clinics and medical centers, and providing regional 
ambulance services with sufficient  vehicles, equipmen,t and means 
of communication. 
 
-- EDUCATION ($1.047 billion) 
 
The education sector is receiving the most funds.  A total of 20.74 
trillion manats ($1.047 billion) will be divided almost equally 
between schools and kindergartens.  The primary areas targeted for 
development in the education sector include modernizing and 
strengthening the material-technical base of educational 
establishments and organizing technological training.  (NOTE: The 
government has been keen to promote the multi-media, interactive 
method of teaching and has set up high-tech equipment in a number of 
schools in Ashgabat.  END NOTE.) 
 
-- CULTURE ($41 million) 
 
The amount of funds allocated to the culture sector is 815.4 billion 
manats ($41 million).  The range of cultural activities includes 
 
ASHGABAT 00000390  002 OF 003 
 
 
preserving historic monuments, developing museums, organizing 
cultural festivals, and establishing branches of art schools in 
villages and settlements. 
 
-- SPORTS ($332 million) 
 
A total of 6.580 trillion manats ($332 million) will be directed 
towards promoting physical education and sports in general.  The 
funds will be spread among building 212 sports schools and 180 sport 
facilities as well as organizing annual sports competitions on the 
district, provincial, and national levels. 
 
-- WATER SUPPLY: ($570 million) 
 
To improve water supply, the government has allocated 11.022 
trillion manats ($570 million) -- the second-largest allocation, 
behind the education sector.  The scope of this work includes 
building almost 23 thousand kilometers of water pipes and digging 
vertical wells to provide drinking water as well as water for 
agricultural purposes. 
 
-- ROADS: ($321 million) 
 
A total of 6.348 trillion manats ($321 million) will be spent to 
improve Turkmenistan's roads under the National Program.  Work in 
this sector includes building new roads, and refurbishing existing 
ones, with a total length of about 24,000 kilometers.  In addition, 
the program oversees renovation of the roads to production 
facilities, such as grain barns, livestock farms, and production 
brigades.  An embassy contact has stated that a district in Dashoguz 
region has already received its allocated funds of 17 billion manats 
($2.72 million) to build roads in that district (reftel). 
 
-- GAS SUPPLY: ($151 million) 
 
The government plans to lay 2.999 trillion manats ($151 million) of 
gas pipe in the outlying regions.  According to the National 
Program, the pipes will reach the most remote areas of the country 
and "economically beneficial, efficient, and environmentally 
friendly technologies" will be established.  The total length of gas 
pipe being built totals about 12,000 kilometers.  (NOTE:  During the 
Cabinet of Ministers Meeting on February 2, Chairman of the 
TurkmenGaz State Concern Kakayev reported that officials had 
purchased various sizes of pipe, valued at $40 million, and had 
delivered the first batch to the sites.  END NOTE.) 
 
-- ELECTRICITY: ($565 million) 
 
To increase electricity supplies, the government plans to lay about 
24,000 kilometers of power transmission lines for a total of 11.1847 
trillion manats ($565 million).  One of the main goals in this area 
is to ensure provision of an uninterrupted supply of electricity. 
 
-- TELECOMMUNICATIONS: ($43 million) 
 
The goal in developing a telecommunications system is to provide 
modern telephone communication and other information services.  In 
addition to installing telephone lines in villages, the program 
foresees gradually transforming analog telephone stations to 
digital. (NOTE: There are a handful of remote districts and villages 
in the regions that still lack telephone service.  There are also 
some places that have only one or two telephones per village.  END 
NOTE.)  The government allocated a total of 854.1 billion manats 
($43 million) for this sector. 
 
-- HOUSING: ($365 million) 
 
The government has allocated 7.219 trillion manats ($365 million) to 
develop the housing sector.  The range of activities in this sector 
includes allocating plots of land, assisting families with 10 or 
more children to purchase and build houses, providing soft loans to 
 
ASHGABAT 00000390  003 OF 003 
 
 
newlyweds, constructing residential buildings, and renovating 
existing residential buildings. 
 
 -- MUNICIPAL SERVICES: ($152 million) 
 
For improvement of municipal services, the National Program has 
appropriated 3.018 trillion manats ($152 million).  The scope of 
work involves establishment of sewage systems and organizing timely 
collection of garbage.  (NOTE:  Only Ashgabat and a few other major 
cities of Turkmenistan have sewage systems.  People in districts and 
villages pour wastewater into man-made wells.  According to a 
provincial contact, it may take as much as several weeks for the 
local government to take garbage out from the wells; until then, 
environmental contamination remains a problem.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) COMMENT: Although Berdimuhamedov deserves credit for 
recognizing the need to develop Turkmenistan's regions -- something 
that was almost totally neglected under Niyazov -- he fails to spend 
the $3.7 billion for the National Program in the most efficient and 
needed form to develop the country.  Building numberless new schools 
and equipping them with the latest modern technology will not 
produce graduates able to think on their feet and eventually assist 
in their country's development.  Moreover, simply setting up 
thousands of kilometers of transmission lines, gas and water pipes 
will not provide "uninterrupted supplies of electricity" or gas and 
water, unless the governmentalso emphasizes regular maintenance and 
invests in developing management teams to assist lower-level 
government officials to deal with these problems.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND