Bakiyev faces protests over fuel bills hike
By Timur Toktonaliev
Sharp increases in the price of electricity and central heating have left many
in Kyrgyzstan struggling to survive. The price for electricity has already
doubled this year and the cost of central heating has shot up by 500%.
The Kyrgyz government says it has been forced to cut subsidies and pass on the
real cost of utilities to the consumer so as to cope with the effects of the
world economic crisis and to build up funds to invest in the energy sector.
Officials say it costs more to generate electricity and provide hot water than
business and domestic customers pay. The increases match the cost price, they
say.
Consumers are less than enamored of the scheme. A straw poll
of 63 people conducted by Institute of War and Peace Reporting on the streets
of Bishkek produced a unanimously negative response.
"What have I got to be happy about?" said a female pensioner who lives on her
own. "I get 2,500 soms [US$56] a month ... I don't have enough to live on. And
now they've added on 130 soms and I'll have to pay 350 soms [monthly] for hot
water."
Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said he was aware of how unpopular the move had
been. "Today, every family in Kyrgyzstan is cursing Usenov's government because
it introduced radical measure for increasing tariffs," the prime minister
acknowledged at a meeting in the energy ministry on January 21.
Gulbayra Tynaeva, a 50-year old single mother and shopworker in Bishkek, is one
of many people struggling even harder to make ends meet. Her bill for heating
and electricity in January was the equivalent of $40, compared with her
previous monthly bills of around $18. She also has to pay for gas, water and
phone from a monthly salary of $134, about the national average. After
deducting other expenses such as her son's school fees and travel, she is left
with around $29 to buy food.
"I buy only the most basic stuff and even that's expensive - potatoes, sugar,
flour and oil," said Tynaeva, adding that the family had not eaten meat for two
months. "Do we have to die of starvation?"
To soften the blow, groups identified as vulnerable such as pensioners and
public sector workers - who earn less than the monthly average - will receive
payments from a $60 million government fund. However, the compensation payments
work out at just $4 a month over the four winter months to help with heating
costs.
A Bishkek resident on a $56 monthly pension said the money was simply not
enough. After paying her bills, she said she had $15 left. "You just about have
to go out and start begging," she said.
Ibragim Junusov, a member of parliament from the ruling Ak Jol party, says the
government is considering allowing pensioners and businesses to spread their
winter electricity payments over the whole year.
Businesses have also felt the impact of electricity price increases and have
decided to pass them on to customers from February. "Electricity costs account
for 8% of the cost of the product," said a bakery owner who gave her first name
as Gulbara. She said she held prices down in January, but will now have to
raise them to avoid going into the red.
Energy expert Jamakadyr Akeneev predicts "living standards will decline and
discontent will rise".
Opposition parties have vowed to campaign against the government's decision.
Azimbek Beknazarov, the leader of the opposition alliance United People's
Movement (UPM), criticized the government for introducing the increases without
public consultation, and said opposition groups would do all that they can to
reverse the decision.
"I meet a lot of ordinary people, particularly in the villages, who say they
aren't going to pay and will just steal electricity," he said.
Beknazarov recalled that one of the demands in the March 2005 "Tulip
Revolution", when Askar Akaev was ousted as president by a popular uprising and
the present head of state, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, came to power, was that he would
reduce utility rates and provide the entire population with electricity.
"President Bakiev has not done this," he said. "On the contrary, by privatizing
the energy sector and increasing prices, he is doing what Akaev didn't have
time to do."
Opposition parties are planning to make the price rises one of the main
talking-points of an assembly they plan to hold on March 17. Participants are
expected to write to the Kyrgyz president demanding that this and other issues
be addressed. If there is no response, the UPM, the main opposition bloc, says
it will stage public protests. Timur Toktonaliev is an IWPR-trained journalist
in Kyrgyzstan. (This article originally appeared in
Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Used with permission.)
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