Tashkent’s infrastructure and businesses are growing at an astonishingly fast rate with upgraded roads, intersections, office buildings, apartment blocks, restaurants, shopping malls, skyscrapers, etc. Our neighborhood near the school is no different. A retail building about 500 meters towards the school on Sarikol Street was recently completed. Behind it is several apartment blocks. The first business to open is illy Coffee an Italian coffee chain that in some ways rivals Starbucks. The Kralovec family and school community are excited to have an upscale cafe and restaurant open so close to the school.
I am not a big fan of the all of the housing developments, but one facet of the development I do like is additional bicycle paths. The Soviets made wide streets and sidewalks and the government is taking advantage of this and adding designated red cement bike paths next to the walking paths. There is not a coordinated network yet but they are growing. It would be a really good project to map all of the paths in the city and provide to interested cyclists.
I took this photo from the bridge overlooking the Bo’rjar Canal. A Korean/Uzbek joint venture is constructing a retail/real estate development along the banks for the canal. The Russians made this canal in 1936, and it still produces electricity today for the city. The canals in the city are really lovely in Tashkent, which has a hot, dry summer climate. I would be concerned about the stability of the steep banks along the canal. I found this interesting website with information about the history of Tashkent while looking up the canal.
I end this blog post with a photo from the ninth floor of an apartment overlooking Nukus Street northwest. We had a nice dinner party with friends in their new apartment and it had nice views overlooking the city. It rained a couple of times this weekend, interspersed with hot, sunny weather. The summer storms cooled down a hot city.
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