Chapter I SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND HOUSING POLICY FRAMEWORK A. GENERAL INFORMATION Osh-Bishkek road, which passes through the Naryn region. It passes through several mountain Geographic situation chains and is impassable during heavy snowfall making communication between the two parts of Kyrgyzstan is located along the eastern the country extremely difficult and dependent on edge of Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is surrounded weather conditions. by Kazakhstan on the north and north-west, Uzbekistan on the south-west, Tajikistan on the The climate in Kyrgyzstan varies south, and also by China on the east and south- regionally and is influenced partly by its east. The total area of Kyrgyzstan is about mountains and partly by its continental location. 199,900 km2,1 making it the second smallest of The climate is subtropical and extremely hot in the Central Asian countries. summer in the Fergana Valley region, temperate in the northern foothills, and dry continental to Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with polar in the mountainous region of Tien Shan. no navigable rivers. Access to international While the soil is fertile, the continental climate centres of economic and cultural activities is provides little rainfall, insufficient for most possible only through the territories of the crops. neighbouring countries. The majority of the country’s rivers are small. The Tien Shan Political system mountain range covers approximately 95% of the whole territory limiting the amount of land Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the available for agriculture. The country’s area is Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on made up of about 191,300 km2 of land and 7,200 31 August 1991. According to Articles 64 and km2 of water, but arable land makes up only 65 of the Constitution (with latest updates on 15 about 7% (approximately 80% of the arable land January 2007), Kyrgyzstan is a semi-presidential is irrigated). It has a generally mountainous Republic. terrain dominated by snow-covered mountain peaks and grassy highland valleys. The few The President of Kyrgyzstan is head of relatively flat regions, the Kyrgyzstan part of the State, the supreme official and head of the Fergana Valley in the south-western area, and executive branch of the Government, as well as the Chu and Talas valleys along the northern the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The border, are the only suitable terrain for large- President is elected for a term of five years. scale agriculture in the country. Referendums were held in February 1996 and February 2003 enhancing the power of the The mountains divide Kyrgyzstan into two President. parts: northern and southern, resulting in the transport system between them being poorly The country’s legislation is formulated by developed. The only route connecting the the executive and legislative branches. The northern and southern parts of the country is the executive branch consists of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, Ministers directly subordinate to the Government, State committees, administrative offices, other executive bodies and local administrations. The 1 Intergovernmental Statistical Committee (2007), Commonwealth of Independent States, Statistical Yearbook, Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is led by Moscow. the Prime Minister who is appointed by the 9 Country profiles on the housing sector – Kyrgyzstan President with the approval of a majority of the The legal system of Kyrgyzstan was whole number of the deputies of the Parliament shaped and developed within the framework of (Jogurku Kenesh). the Soviet State law. Since acquiring independence, Kyrgyzstan has acquired some The Government is responsible for policy features of the French legal system (regarding formulation and for drafting and commenting on the State structure), as well as the legal system of draft legislation. The Prime Minister issues the Russian Federation. Justice is administered Government orders and regulations, and in Kyrgyzstan only by the courts. The Jogurku nominates candidates for ministerial positions Kenesh selects, on the advice of the President of who are appointed by the President. Kyrgyzstan, judges of the Constitutional Court and of the Supreme Court who serve a term of Legislative power is vested in the 10 years. Parliament (Jogurku Kenesh). Draft laws are introduced to the Parliament by the executive Administratively, Kyrgyzstan is divided branch or by the general public through into seven regions (oblasts) and the municipality community initiatives, which require the of Bishkek — the capital (see Picture 3). signatures of 30,000 voters. The legislation on Bishkek is administratively an independent city land or property issues is reviewed by the located in the Chu valley with a status equal to Ministry of Justice and the consequent bills are an oblast. The Chu, Talas, and Ygyk Kol oblasts, introduced to the Parliament. The laws that with Bishkek, comprise the northern part of the require financing from the State budget can only country. The southern territory is divided into be adopted by the Parliament when the source of three oblasts: Batken, Jalal-Abad, and Osh. the financing has been identified as stated by the Naryn, somewhat isolated, is situated within the 2007 Law Concerning a New Version of the Tien Shan mountain range. In terms of territory, Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. Only the it is the largest of the oblasts but the smallest in President of Kyrgyzstan and the Jogurku terms of population, according to the results of Kenesh, which is elected by the people of the 1999 Population Census. Osh is the most Kyrgyzstan, are entitled to act on behalf of the populous oblast. people of Kyrgyzstan. Picture 3. Administrative territorial division of Kyrgyzstan Source: The Sustainable Development Commission IFAS (2003), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 10 Country profiles on the housing sector – Kyrgyzstan Overall economic development like electrical engines and centrifugal pumps; a variety of farm machinery and trucks; The nineteenth century saw Russian intermediate goods like cement and bricks; Tsarist rule in Kyrgyzstan after the defeat of the consumer goods like textiles, garments and forces of the Kokand Khanate. In 1876, the processed food; and agricultural processing like territory of Kyrgyzstan was annexed to Russia cotton fibre. Kyrgyzstan was also a major bringing the people under the control of the producer of electrical energy and coal. Apart Tsars. During this time, landless Russians and from catering to domestic demand, many of other Slavic people came in large numbers these industries were based on the processing of enticed by a promise of free land and building material supplied by the rest of the Soviet Union materials by the Tsarists, taking the best and or on demand for export to other Soviet most fertile lands for themselves. republics. The industrial sector was also heavily dependent on input supplies from and output The Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was markets in other parts of the former USSR and created in the early part of the twentieth century. prices for the inputs and outputs were heavily The country experienced notable economic and subsidized by the central government. social development around this time, free education was introduced, and widespread land The loss of the Soviet subsidies and the reforms started whereby some of the lands taken breakdown of established Soviet trading markets by the Russian and Slavic settlers were given affected Kyrgyzstan severely. Kyrgyzstan relied back to the Kyrgyz people. The land reform on external borrowing to deal with the reduction went on further with the introduction of mass in private consumption, and increased collectivization that called for all land farms to government expenditure. This resulted in the be taken under the State control to be worked as decline of the gross domestic product (GDP) to collective farms, but most of the collective farms around 50% of the 1990 level between 1991 and were headed by ethnic Russians. Collectivization 1995. Furthermore, all economic indicators forced the Kyrgyz to abandon their nomadic deteriorated which led to the rise in poverty lifestyle and settle in towns and villages, which levels. was something they were not used to, and led them to flee to the mountains and even into Kyrgyzstan was one of the first of the China. former Soviet republics to initiate a programme of structural reforms to facilitate the The Soviet legacy has strongly influenced development of a market economy after gaining the direction, speed and results of reforms in independence. However, the pace of the reforms Kyrgyzstan after gaining its independence. was constrained by factors such as the serious Under the Soviet system, economic planning deterioration in economic conditions and efforts were focused on regional agricultural resistance to the changes. These constraints did specialization and industrial development in the not stop the Kyrgyzstan Government from Central Asian region to which Kyrgyzstan pursuing its commitment to the transition to a belongs. market economy, and it instituted drastic structural reforms to accelerate the process. With In agriculture, the Soviet strategy was to the introduction of the new currency, price promote regional specialization in wool, liberalization, reform of commercial and livestock products and, to a lesser extent, cotton, agriculture legislation, privatization of public in Kyrgyzstan. Thus, incentives were sharply assets and the adoption of an open external trade shifted in favour of these crops and products. regime, starting in 1996, the economy began to recover. Improved economic performance was In the industrial and service sectors, the fuelled by the strong growth of the agricultural Soviet strategy of industrialization was to sector due to reforms made, such as land emphasize a degree of self-sufficiency creating redistribution, price liberalization, restructuring relatively broad-based manufacturing industries of State-owned farms and the elimination of in Kyrgyzstan. It included manufactured goods State controls over markets and State duties. 11 Country profiles on the housing sector – Kyrgyzstan However, the external shocks from the 1998 2005 and employing 65% of the population.