Azerbaijan, Baku, June 1 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Kyrgyz Prime Minister appointed new head to Issyk-Kul region where mass riots took place this week, Kyrgyz Government reported on Saturday.
General Tokon Mamytov, who earlier headed Kyrgyz border service, was appointed to this post.
Within the meeting with local authorities, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldyev said the government would greatly support tourism development in the region. In particular, the government will allocate $120 million for reconstruction of disposal facilities in such resort cities as Cholpon-Ata, Karakol and Balykchi.
"We have not invested much in the infrastructure of the resort cities since Kyrgyzstan has become independent," he said.
Meanwhile, according to Satybaldyev, there is no substitute for the Kumtor gold mine in the country.
"We will try to launch such deposits as Bozumchak, Talbot-Bulak and Ishtamberdy by the end of this year. But their common production will hit only 75 percent of Kumtor's production", he said.
On Tuesday, several hundred of the Issyk-Kul region's residents blocked the road running to the Kumtor mine. Moreover, they occupied the Tamga electric station and cut off the power supply to the mine and the gold extracting factory. The rioters demanded to cancel the contract with the mine's operator Ganterra Gold. On Friday, the police managed to capture the organizers of the riots. On the same day, protesters clashed with police in some villages near the Issyk-Kul Lake. The police used non-lethal weapons; some 55 people were injured as a result. A state of emergency and curfew were imposed in the region.