Last week in Ferghana we organised a seminar titled: “Modern decision-making methods of local authorities and the inclusion of the factor of climate change”.

Participants of the seminar discussed the regulatory framework on urban planning, efficient energy consumption, environmental protection, building permits, proper use of building materials, considering climate change and its improvement.

The chief architect of the Ferghana region Khojamatov Bakhodir noted:

"In Ferghana region, 206 low-carbon residential buildings were built with the installation of photovoltaic panels in houses for lighting needs and 2 of them installed solar collectors for hot water supply."

Uzbekistan has huge potential for using solar energy, in the coming years it is forecasted that the cost of electricity generating through the use of solar energy will drop to the level of retail electricity prices, which will lead to a rapid increase in the construction of solar power plants. Photovoltaic panels have already become a cost-effective solution for people living in hard-to-reach and remote areas, where it is irrational to run centralized power supply networks. The panels provide access to affordable and clean energy, which has a positive impact on the environment. 

The chief specialist of the regional Women's Committee, Ortikova Nodira shared:

"In 2018-2019, 308 women and disabled people received help, improved living conditions. The Women's Committee repays the initial installment of a housing loan free of charge. Next year, we plan to help 154 ​​women and people with disabilities get housing equipped with solar panels. There are difficulties, they consist in the fact that the earnings of women are not high yet, and some women are single or stay at home with children and it is difficult for them to repay a loan. Therefore, we are trying to provide women with work at home so that they can repay the loan. Plans to increase the number of women with jobs."

During the seminar, recommendations on improving the regulatory framework were considered. It was determined that the timely and effective implementation of the recommendations is extremely important for solving problems when making decisions on accommodation, settlement infrastructure, land distribution, building permits, use of building materials, energy consumption, environmental protection and climate change at the community level and local government.

The participants noted that the authorities and relevant organizations should make decisions considering climate change and consider the environmental situation in the republic. Also, seminar participants determined that the norms and requirements related to the environmentally-friendly development of populated areas are dispersed over a large number of documents, which makes it difficult to use them. In addition, they are poorly interconnected.

The seminar was attended by 50 representatives including regional representatives of design and construction organizations, the regional khokimiyat, the regional cadaster, the regional department of the Ministry of Construction, the regional committee of women, the engineering company Qishlok Qurilish Invest, regional branch of the design-survey institute Qishlok Qurilish Loyiha, and the regional state committee of ecology and environmental protection. They agreed to cooperate in order to timely and effectively address all recommendations made in the course of the seminar in order to protect the environment and mitigate the climate change consequences at the community level.

“Market Transformation for Sustainable Rural Housing in Uzbekistan” is our project which was established in 2017 and has contributed to the construction of 800 efficient houses in five regions (Samarkand,Bukhara,Surkhandarya,Fergana and Khorezm) of Uzbekistan since then.