Turkmenistan's ‘Father of the fatherland's' city of wonders

The former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, despite having handed over the office to his son Serdar, still glories in the title of ‘father of the fatherland’ and in his honour, a brand new smart-city is being built under the name Arkadag. And he has called for the construction time to be shortened so as to settle a greater share of new inhabitants and attract more investment

Ashgabat (AsiaNews) - Former President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, president of the Senate of Turkmenistan and father of incumbent President Serdar, still glories in the title of Arkadag, the ‘father of the fatherland’, and in his honour a brand new smart-city is being built under the name Arkadag.

The father-president is, however, concerned about the timetable, and has urged that the construction of the facilities necessary for the full satisfaction of those who are destined to settle in this new ‘Turkmen paradise’ be hastened.

On his last inspection visit in recent days, the chairman of the state committee for the realisation of Arkadag, Derjageldi Orazov, solemnly presented Gurbanguly with the award certificates ‘for the high architectural and ecological standard’ of the city, which were presented on 9 December in Vienna at theEsqr's Quality Choice Prize 2024 ceremony. State media also mention the international registration of the city's medicinal production by the international office of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ašgabat issued a statement on the matter, according to which ‘the city of Arkadag has been recognised as an intelligent and innovative city with exclusive quality standards, awarded for its achievements in the composition of the most modern technologies together with practices of absolute ecological purity, offering a model of contemporary urbanisation at an international level’.

The president of the Khalk Maslakhat, the Turkmen Senate, emphasised that ‘this is an international confirmation of the quality of the medicine we produce, baby food, articles and sterile bandages necessary for the stomatology system’.

Orazov then reported on the construction schedule for the ‘second phase’ of the project, which concerns not only the sanitary buildings, but also a large shopping centre, a bridge over the central Geoktepe prospekt, and the various materials to decorate the city's exteriors.

The plan to remake the large boulevard from the Akhan monument to the other Taycanak monument (the ‘little colt’) was illustrated, with the choice of trees that will be planted, in place of the first project not approved byArkadag, which recommended ‘placing each building in correspondence with its purpose’, and installing images of the international awards won so far on the arches of the new bridge.

The mayor of Arkadag, Gulšat Mammedova, also addressed the meeting, reporting on the settlement of the first inhabitants in the new houses, and the preparations for the New Year celebrations.

Here too, the former president insisted that ‘the decorations during the New Year festivities should correspond to the needs of contemporary reality’. She then requested that the president-father ask the president-son for permission to hold a session of the Khalk Maslakhat in Arkadag in 2025.

Gurbanguly then asked Orazov to shorten the timeframe for the ‘second phase’, so as to settle a larger share of new inhabitants and attract other investments for industrial and health purposes, with the necessary equipment.

At the end of the meeting, the ‘father of the fatherland’ met with the general director of the French company Bouygues Türkmen, Aleksej Rešov, who in turn outlined the timeframe and methods for the realisation of various projects and subsequent plans, always with ‘state-of-the-art methods’ in construction and the use of the necessary materials.

Photo: Wikipedia / Bayram A