From Nexia to Mercedes: Why Tashkent’s governor doesn’t drive a local car?

Shavkat Umurzakov, who has been acting mayor of Tashkent for a year and officially became the capital’s mayor a month ago, was previously the head of UzAvtosanoat. Under his leadership, cars like Spark, Nexia, and Gentra were produced. Despite this connection to the automotive industry, Mayor Umurzakov has been driving a Mercedes-Benz since taking office. This raised a question for QALAMPIR.UZ: why doesn’t the mayor drive a locally produced car like the “Big boy,” a popular and affordable vehicle in Uzbekistan?

During an interview, the mayor explained that a major infrastructure program is underway to address the growing traffic issues in the city.

“There is a large program for 36 corridors now. It covers 450 km, and the estimated cost is more than $500 million. Of course, this work requires significant funding,” Umurzakov said.

He emphasized that simply asphalting roads is not enough. “The number of cars has doubled in the last five years. Five years ago, there were 400,000 cars, and now there are 800,000. This means we need to improve the 'trafficability' of our streets,” the mayor noted.

Umurzakov explained that they are working on securing the necessary funding, including through public-private partnerships and grants. “If we focus only on asphalting the roads with the allocated funds, we will be wasting money,” he added.

Regarding the condition of the roads and potholes, the mayor assured that these issues are being addressed gradually. “This should be an ongoing process. The population is increasing by 100,000 people each year, and one and a half to two million new homes, schools, and kindergartens are being built. Our first goal is to fix traffic jams at intersections. We are preparing 30 large intersections for the summer season, and after that, we will work on other issues,” Umurzakov concluded.

While the mayor may not be driving a locally made car, his focus is clearly on long-term infrastructure solutions to improve the city's traffic and road conditions. The plans in place are set to bring substantial improvements to Tashkent’s transportation system.