Late in December, Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Bakyt Torobayev held a meeting on the fulfillment of the government’s plan of priority measures to improve air quality in the capital city of Bishkek for 2024-2025.
The plan was approved in February 2024 and included measures to provide the population with high-calorie coal that produces less pollutants; reduce emissions into the air from the Bishkek coal-fired thermal power plant by replacing its outdated filters and converting the power plant to natural gas; develop an architectural plan for the city taking into account the movement of air masses in Bishkek; continue gasification of the city’s residential neighborhoods; construct transport interchanges and multi-level parking lots; increase the attractiveness of using public transport; develop electric charging infrastructure in the city; and create a green belt in and around the city.
The meeting listened to reports on the progress in providing the population with high-quality coal, preparing the boilers of the Bishkek Thermal Power Plant for conversion from coal to natural gas, gasification of Bishkek and its suburbs, and converting municipal transport to environmentally friendly types of fuel.
Torobayev ordered government agencies to prepare a new plan for the city’s gasification, simplify the procedures for obtaining loans for gasification, step up inspections of business entities for air pollution, control that new apartment buildings are equipped with natural-gas boilers for heating, step up work on installing solar panels, ban the import of motor vehicles without catalytic converters, and develop a methodology for treating diseases caused by people’s exposure to smog.
Burning coal for household heating and exhaust gases from motor vehicles are considered the main sources of air pollution in Bishkek.
