Newsday

Energy Crisis in Kyrgyzstan

by ELENA LISTVENNAYA Associated Press Writer

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Kyrgyzstan's leader has promised to work to resolve an energy crisis that has left his people shivering through the winter and threatens the crucial cotton crop in neighboring Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiyev's comments Tuesday appeared aimed at reconciling the Central Asian neighbors and dampening one of many disputes troubling the turbulent region, along with economic problems, government crackdowns on dissent and Islamic insurgencies.

The problem arose from an interruption in natural gas supplies from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan, two former Soviet republics which shared a common infrastructure before gaining independence in 1991.

Uzbekistan has said gas pipelines were damaged by ice during the record cold winter.

The shortage of gas led Kyrgyz authorities to boost production of electricity at hydroelectric power plants this winter as people switched to hot plates and electric heaters instead of gas stoves.

In a final twist, the water in the reservoirs that serve these power plants is also used to irrigate cotton in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley during the summer, and plummeting water levels in the last two weeks have deeply angered Uzbek officials.

Uzbekistan exported $984 million in cotton last year, or 30 percent of its total exports, according to the Uzbek Ministry of the Economy. About one-quarter of this cotton comes from the Fergana Valley.

Bakiyev at first suggested Kyrgyzstan would use the reservoir water as it pleased to heat homes this winter.

But on Tuesday, Bakiyev changed course, and promised to take steps to conserve water and cool the dispute.

''Kyrgyzstan will take all measures to create the maximum reserves of water, and will try to support a brotherly country in the summer period according to existing agreements,'' he said, according to the government press service.

Bakiyev said Uzbek authorities had promised to quickly repair the gas pipes, which have been working only intermittently since Jan. 27.

Uzbekistan's slow work on repairing the pipes has angered consumers in Kyrgyzstan, not least because the natural gas is produced from wells on Kyrgyz territory, but must pass through Uzbekistan to reach urban centers including the capital Bishkek.

Two retired people have died in their homes due to the lack of heating this month, Kyrgyz media have reported.

Both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were part of a massive, Soviet-era project in the 1960s to irrigate wheat and cotton fields in Central Asia. The strategy was to create a second grain-producing region far from the union's western border, considered vulnerable to attack from Western Europe.

The dams and canals have caused severe environmental damage to watersheds in Central Asia, and have led to multiple disputes over water by newly independent states in the region since 1991.

AP-NY-02-21-01 0604EST< 

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 21, 2001