VZCZCXRO1993
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW
RUEHLA RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK
RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNT #0312/01 0551240
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241238Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1919
INFO ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
CIS COLLECTIVE
EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/USCENTCOM POLITICAL ADVISOR MACDILL AFB FL
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0108
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0098
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0007
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0020
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0013
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0250
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000312 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN, EEB/ES, OES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SENV EAID UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: REMOTE VILLAGE BIO-GAS DEMONSTRATION PROJECT 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The remote mountain village of Khumsan has a 
bio-gas demonstration project, using primitive technology that 
converts livestock manure into bio-gas and provides four 
participating families with electricity, heat, and gas.  It is 
designed to last ten years without repairs or spare parts.  The 
village is not connected to the power grid, and converters such as 
this one are the only feasible sources of energy for the villagers 
other than the nearby rapidly depleting forest.  NGO Ecoforum of 
Uzbekistan also wants to develop ecotourism to scenic mountains and 
remote villages, but villagers are skeptical and want to know how 
they will benefit.  Tourists need a place to stay that also has 
heat and electricity, and Ecoforum thinks ecotourism cannot be 
developed without alternative energy in villages and mountain 
regions.  While the project is very impressive, it is still too 
expensive at present.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) The mountainous remote village of Khumsan, a few hours 
outside of Tashkent, is typical of many such villages.  It has no 
electricity or heating in the village, and villagers have to cut 
trees down for heat in the winter, creating a serious problem of 
forest depletion.  One resourceful and very assertive villager, 
however, named Tojibay (first name only), succeeded in getting a 
bio-gas demonstration project constructed at his house with the 
help of an NGO consortium that included the Uzbek environmental NGO 
Eco-Forum.  The total cost of the project was $17,000, with the 
Uzbekistan NGO Association paying one half, and the local 
government and four village families paying the other half. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) The bio-gas generator, using primitive but highly reliable 
and durable technology, provides the four participating families 
with electricity, heat, and gas.  The bio-gas generator converts 
livestock manure into bio-gas and stores it in a large steel 
container.  Villagers can then siphon off the gas they need from an 
attached compressor.  The designer, bio gas expert Rakhmedov 
Bazerbai, proudly pointed out all the features of the bio-gas 
converter, noting that the converter is designed to last ten years 
without repairs or spare parts, with the possible exception of a 
broken or corroded turn valve.  Bazerbai boasted that this 
generator can take raw manure and convert it into a high grade 
powdered fertilizer that the village can sell on the market for a 
very good price.  One is struck by the extreme simplicity of the 
design but at the same time just how suitable such a low-tech 
converter is for remote villages like Khumsan. 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) At present, only four families are paying to use the gas, 
since it is just a limited demonstration project.  Bazerbai said it 
would cost at least ten times as much to run a power line to the 
village.  He said the villagers have long ago given up on the idea 
that one day they will be connected to the main grid, so converters 
such as the one at Tojibay's house are the only feasible sources of 
energy other than the rapidly depleting nearby forest.  As if to 
underscore the impact of renewable energy in this village, Tojibay 
has two large solar panels on his house, also the result of an 
earlier demonstration project. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) Ecoforum of Uzbekistan Chairman Sanginov Saidrasul, who 
helped arrange the visit to Khumsan, noted that Ecoforum is also 
keenly interested in developing eco-tourism.  This would include 
eco-tourism to the scenic mountains as well as to remote villages 
such as Khunsan.  However, he noted that villagers are somewhat 
skeptical about this "tourism" because they want to know how they 
will benefit.  They are not interested in having strangers come 
into the village, litter their homes, and then leave.  Saidrasul 
 
TASHKENT 00000312  002 OF 002 
 
 
believes that eco-tourism can generate additional revenues for 
villagers, but villages must have a place for tourists to stay that 
also has heat and electricity.  For that, the lodgings will most 
likely need to use some form of renewable energy, such as the 
bio-gas converter currently in operation.  For Saidrasul, 
ecotourism cannot be developed without alternative energy in 
villages and mountain regions.  He also noted that villagers must 
see a difference between regular tourism ("Kazan-tourism" where 
people come, eat and drink, and leave behind conspicuous trash and 
waste) and "eco-tourism" before they will be willing to support 
eco-tourism. 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) COMMENT: The bio-gas project is very impressive. The 
technology is amazingly simple, such that you wonder how it can 
work.  But it does.  The one significant drawback, however, is that 
such projects are too expensive at present.  This particular 
bio-gas converter cost $6000 for four families for ten years, or 
$1500 per family.....averaging out to $150 per year.  For poor 
villagers, that is a lot of upfront money.  Micro-loans would also 
have to be available, and the villagers would have to see that it 
is to their advantage to take on such a debt, given that most 
villagers are already heavily indebted.  END COMMENT. 
NORLAND