DUSHANBE, April 11, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- On Friday April 10, Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev received owners of Dushanbe’s Zarnisor market, which had been closed in order to free the land for development.

As it had been reported earlier, the Zarnisor market was closed in September following the ruling handed down by the High Economic Court.  Dushanbe officials stated the market had been built on illegally privatized property.

According to Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor, Ubaidulloyev said at the meeting that the mayor’s office supported the court’s ruling and noted that in pursuance of implementation of the decision taken by High Economic Court the owners should demolish the market on their own.  The mayor also noted that the market owners might participate in construction of new facilities provided for by the municipal redevelopment plan in the place of the market, the spokesman said.

The mayor also charged the Dushanbe agency for construction and architecture to consider compliance of the market’s three-story building with the municipal plan.  If the building is fit in with the redevelopment plan, relevant municipal bodies should consider the possibility of using it to place the domestic service center, Saidov said.