Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, May 24 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov chaired a meeting on the development of the Turkmen capital Ashgabat. Results of a special commission set up to form new districts in Ashgabat and to define their boundaries are now available, Turkmen TV said on Thursday.
"Taking into account its geographic location, the Turkmen capital receives more foreign visitors," the report said. "The city has become the venue for international events at a world level. All this poses new challenges for the development of Ashgabat."
The matter rests in joining the territories of the town of Abadan and the Ruhabat district of the Akhal region to Ashgabat.
The president instructed that measures be taken to ensure the optimal conditions for living, including utilities, the smooth operation of communication systems, power and water supply in the new regions.
He said that the establishment of the proper functioning of the urban economy is connected with the road transport area.
This issue is expected to be thoroughly discussed at a meeting to be held in the palace of Maslakhat Koshgi in the coming days.
"Ashgabat must be worthy of the high title of the capital of an independent, neutral Turkmenistan," the Turkmen president was quoted by the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news agency.
Therefore, work on the development of the main city of the country must go ahead, taking into account the growing dynamics of socio-economic processes.
Ashgabat is the largest administrative, political, transport, trade, scientific and cultural centre of the country. As of early 2012, some 12.7 per cent of the population (fifth place among the regions) lived there.
One of the leading sectors of the capital's economy is its industry, namely the light industry and food products, as well as mechanical engineering, wood processing, pharmaceutical and building industries.
Around 4.6 per cent of the total industrial production of the country (fifth place among the regions) was produced in Ashgabat in 2011.