KHUJAND, February 19, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov’s three-day working visit to the northern Sughd province concluded on February 18.  A number of ministers and department heads accompanied the prime minister on the trip to northern Tajikistan.

According to the Sughd regional administration, the prime minister visited the cities of Chkalovsk and Qairoqqum before departing for Dushanbe.  In Chkalovsk, Oqilov familiarized himself with activities of the state unitary enterprise, Vostokredmet.  While in Qairoqqum, the prime minister visited the site for construction of the empties-producing plant.

On February 17, Oqilov visited Isfara district, where he got acquainted with operations of the pump station, Mohpari-1, which is used for development of the Mohpari steppe.  By president’s order some families from the city of Isfara as well as the Surkh, Chorkuh and Vorukh jamoats will be relocated to the Mohpari area.

The prime minister ordered representatives from the ministries of energy and industries as well as land reclamation and water resources to develop projects for construction of a new power substation the Mohpari2 pump station in the area.  If these projects are implemented, more than 1,500 hectares of land will be developed in the Mohpari area, Oqilov said, adding that 3.6 million somoni will be allocated from the national budget for those projects.

On February 17, the prime minister also visited miners’ town of Shurob in Isfara district.  Isfara mayor presented the Shurob development program, under which work on improving the town and providing it with electric power and drinking water will start in April this year.  The town is expected to have a population of 10,000.  More than 90 million somoni will allocated from the national budget for implementation of this program.

We will recall that a February 3 government meeting considered issues related to working out socioeconomic development program for Shurob designed for 2011-2015.  The program should provide for renovation of residential buildings, creation of new jobs, construction of educational, medical and cultural facilities, provision of the town with electric power and drinking water, as well as increase in coal production and construction of combined heat and power plant (CHP) in Shurob.

The population of Shurob was about 4,000 in the early 2000s.

The town was established in 1952.  In Soviet time it had a population of 8,400 (1991), most people worked in coal-mining industry.  There were several factories, palace of culture, a stadium, a library, a movie theater, a park, etc.  The town was supplied by Moscow, and wages of local people were higher, than in many other Tajik cities.

After the breakup of the USSR in 1991, most of the coal mines, factories, culture institutions were closed and the town lost more than a half of its population.  As of 2003, many buildings went to ruins and water supply system was almost broken.