The first steamship

July 13th, 2013 Sections: History, Issyk Kul, Life In Kyrgyzstan, News, Weekly_Postcards

The steamship 'Progress of Kyrgyzstan' in 1930

When I was a lad, (as Gilbert and Sullivan put it in the Admiral’s Song in the Pirates of Penzance), I am sure that I taught that the first steamship was the SS Great Britain, designed by the great British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company and which entered service in 1845.  In fact, although this may have been significant as the largest passenger ship of the day, it wasn’t the first steamship to be built.

The first successful attempt to be a steamship was probably by John Fitch as early as 1876, and his boats plied the Delaware river between Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The SS Great Britain did, however, incorporate many of the design features of earlier steamships and was the first iron built ship to cross the Atlantic, (a voyage which she completed in just 14 days).

July 13th, 1926, saw the introduction of a new service in Kyrgyzstan: a Steamship service on Lake Issyk Kul. Operated initially by the steamship Progress of Kyrgyzstan, built in the boatyard in Ribiyachi, (now known as Balykchi), it ferried both passengers and cargo around the lake, and this pioneer was later joined by others: Pioneer, Soviet Khirgizia, Ten Years of Khirgizia and the massive General Panfilov.   

These weren’t the first boats to ply of the lake, however, as many fishing boats long been setting out on the waters in order to benefit from the harvest that the lake had to offer.  Most of them, however, had been simple rowing boats or sailing yachts although there was a motor schooner that was used to carry cargo from one end of the lake to another.

The service basically came a halt however, suffering a number of unfortunate incidents, (storms, fire, and even an “attack” by a flock of geese), but basically because it was uneconomic once a reasonable road had been constructed.

 

A boat trip on the lake is a popular activity with tourists to break the “monotony” of simply sitting on the beach soaking up the sun and taking a swim.

For the record: Other activities include a visit to the Amusement park at Bosteri and taking a ride on the Ferris wheel or the Armeicanskiy Gorki – “a loop the loop” roller coaster; excursions into the mountains such as up the picturesque Grigorievka and Semyenovka alpine gorges, or to the Barskoon valley; a trip to Karakol, or excursions to see the rock formations of the Skazka valley, and Myortvoye Ozero – Kyrgyzstan’s version of the Dead Sea.

Issyk Kul is, of course, at the heart of Kyrgyzstan’s tourism industry with most of the tourists  to the country – as opposed to simply “foreign visitors” – coming from the former Soviet republics, especially neighbouring Kazakstan, simply to take advantage of the numerous resorts on the lake’s shores.  Then comes the number of locals who travel up to the lake for a few days, followed by what is euphamistically known here as visitors “from the far beyond”, for example, Adventure tourists such as Mountaineers, Trekkers, Horse riders and cyclists or Westerners following the Great Silk Road – which almost pale into insignificance in number compared to the visitors to the “Pearl of the Tien Shan”, as Issyk Kul is known.

For the record: They may be fewer in number but, as Scotland found out in the first three months of this year, fewer tourists does not necessarily mean less income.  It seems that they saw something like 8% fewer tourists in this period, but those that did turn up spent something like 21% more than those who visited in the same period last year.  That means that each tourist is paying, on average, almost a third more than those who visited last year, which is considerably higher than inflation.

Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of the rules of water safety and this week it was reported that, so far this year, some 57 people, have drowned in Kyrgyzstan’s rivers and lakes.  Not all of them, by any means, tourists on Lake Issyk Kul – the figure includes the Chinese passengers of an SUV which fell into a river, (and the bodies were washed away and have never been recovered), and a group of fishermen on the Naryn River.  Tragically, that figure also includes 13 children, (or 16 – I have seen both figures quoted … odd because the reports were all based on the same press conference given by the Minister of Emergency Situations).

That accident involving the SUV was just one of almost two and a half thousand that occurred during the first five month of the year – almost half of them recorded in Bishkek (!) – killing 343 people – although smaller proportion, just 48, of them in the capital … mind you, there were 1532 other injuries recorded in Bishkek but the equivalent figure for the country as a whole was given.

The GAI, (Traffic Police) are naturally concerned by what they see as a dramatic rise in the number of accidents, which they ascribe to speeding; drink-driving, (technically, Kyrgyzstan has a “zero tolerance” of alcohol in the blood stream – but this sometimes seems hard to credit); “poor road conditions” and “bad driver training” (!).

When I first saw the headlines, (before, that is, I read the various articles in detail), I thought that it was simply a case of the GAI trying to justify themselves, as they have come in for a pretty bad in previous years … something to do with the general impression that some of them seem to regard any vehicle with a Kazakh number plate as fair game for extracting a “fine”.  Although it’s a “general impression”, (and some certainly don’t do that  much to help dispel it), not all GAI are so mercenary and unprincipled … and, let’s face it, we do need them to do their job.

In Bishkek, in the first half of the year, they apparently recorded 118,503 traffic violations, (for example, not behaving properly at traffic lights, not wearing seat belts, using mobile phones while driving, having darkened windows … notice, that list didn’t include speeding or drink-driving – which are apparently two of the principle causes of accidents(!) – I can’t help wondering why not? … there seems to be a story here for an enterprising journalist – or academic researcher).  As a result of the violations, some 118,429 protocols were written, (what happened in the other 74 cases, I wonder), and 3471 cases were referred to the courts which resulted in 447 fines (totaling over two million soms) and almost a thousand drivers losing their licenses.

Far be it from me to question official statistics, but I did find those figures intriguing.  In all my time here, (almost 18 years), I can only remember one occasion when I saw a protocol being written, and that was because the driver insisted that he hadn’t been speeding and he disputed the evidence of the radar gun saying that the time it displayed was not the time when he was stopped.

I also wondered if the news reports had anything to do with the continuing campaign against right hand drive vehicles and the attempt to ban their import or, at the very least, their use as taxis and public transport minibuses.  Part of the argument has always been that they are involved in far more accidents proportionally than left hand drive vehicles … but, curiously, the use of right hand drive vehicles was not cited in the press reports as one of the contributory factors in the “inexorable” rise in the number of accidents.

Another possible reason for the news reports, I thought, was the campaign to get the “technical inspection”, a sort of MOT road worthiness test), reinstated as it was discontinued last year.  Although an inspection is still required for commercial passenger carrying vehicles, it is “voluntary” – but highly recommended – for private vehicles.   Once again, however, this was not cited in the reports I saw as a factor when it came to the rise in the number of accidents.

One of the factors that was cited was “road conditions”, but I was a bit confused about this.  I wasn’t sure if it meant conditions at the the time of the accident, (for example, slippery roads due to snow or rain … what about fog?, and so on), or the state of the road itself.

The issue of the state of the Kyrgyzstan’s roads has been in the news a lot recently, but not just relating to accidents.  In Bishkek the number of potholes has been the subject of a number of campaigns, and recently a group of activists decorated one with a portrait of the mayor.  As it happens, the city are repairing a number of the main roads.

There are also a number of projects of renovation and reconstruction, including the main Bishkek-Torugart highway which carries a lot of the Chinese goods to Kyrgyzstan’s markets.  This has added at least an hour to my monthly trip to Naryn over the past year but I console myself that, when it is finally completed, the monthly journey will be so much quicker … and more comfortable.  Already, as a regular traveler along the road, each month I can see a difference as more kilometers are completed … but for those Kazakh tourists on their way up to Issyk Kul it must seem like torture.  It is planned for there to be a four lane highway from the turn off to Kochkor and Naryn at Kok Moinok, up to Balykchy which will should make a great difference … but in the meantime …

Perhaps more worrying is the fact that once the road has been built, it has to be maintained … and we don’t seem to have a good record in that respect.  When I first came here, the main Bishkek-Osh highway, (originally built in the 1960′s and considered to be a “difficult” road), was undergoing reconstruction.  After 18 years with virtually no maintenance, (according to one commentator), virtually the whole route is in need of repair once again.

In addition, plans are going ahead for the construction of another North-South alternative route.  It’s not clear yet how it is to be financed, but donors and investors are actively being sought.

 

There have been several suggestions about how to extend the tourist season or improve the facilities for visitors.  One such suggestion is to create a Mountain Tourism zone – basically a ski zone.  There was conference on this last week, but the suggestions seems to be fairly divisive … I am not sure why.  I think it may have something to do with alternative suggestions, such as the construction of a new amusement and shopping center – probably at Tamchi, on the northern shore of the lake.  Tamchi has probably been chosen as it is the first village close to shore on the main road along the Northern shore …

Intriguingly, another suggestion put forward by a couple of deputies is permit the construction of a casino zone on the shore of the lake.  This is really controversial.  Last year, the parliament prohibited casonos and forced the ones that existed to close down … leading to protests form the workers who lost their jobs and complaints about the loss of tax revenues … which was said to be considerable.  Then there is the “moral aspect”, which has found support from both the President and Prime Minister.  This week, the First Deputy Prime Minister made a statement that the proposal should be looked at and carefully analysed from all sides, and a compromise might be possible – for example, making it available to foreigners but not to locals.  I am not sure that was supporting this, simply floating it as a possibility for discussion.

Personally, I am not sure how it would work.  I know, for example, that in Pakistan where the sale of alcohol is forbidden, it possible for some establishments frequented by foreigners to obtain a special license permitting them to serve it to foreigners … but I am not sure that it would work here.  I also fear that it could lead to all sorts of constitutional wranglings … all, after all, supposed to be equal under the constitution – foreigners and locals alike.

However, I do think that there is some merit in the idea in that there are two potential new markets that it might help to develop – China and India … both where gambling is forbidden, (or strictly controlled), but where it is extremely popular … and both within easy reach of Kyrgyzstan.

I think we are in for some interesting discussions on this topic in the future.

 

Among the other major news items this week, there has been a big conference involving all of the main international donor agencies like the World Bank, International Monetary Fun, various development banks – European, Asian, Islamic … and so on, about the country’s development strategy.  It wasn’t all sweetness and light, however.  It was stressed, for example, that Kyrgyzstan – even with help from the donor community, can’t do everything … that priorities need to set and, perhaps a little more specific, that the government needs to restructure public finances which currently account for something like 40% of GDP … and that represents an increase of 10% in the last five years.  Having said that, eve though Kyrgyzstan still hasn’t received all the aid that was promised after the 2010 revolution, that in the next 4 years we hope to be the beneficiaries of grants and loans to the tune of some two billion dollars, which it is hoped to spend on roads and in modernizing the energy sector.

Talking of the energy sector, there are plans to upgrade the main heating and power plants in Bishkek by the end of next year and the Prime Minister made a comment to the effect that during the Winter “heating” season at the end of this year, there shouldn’t be any interruptions to the power supply.   P_ersonally, I think that sounds a little ambitious … especially as we’ve been warned that we are approaching a point where the demand for energy will outstrip the supply, (our own version of “Peak Oil”).

Gold is never far from the headlines and there have been some stories about the future of the Kumtor gold mine – the company structure is going to be simplified with the two companies, (Centerra and the Kumtor operating Company), being merged, but a big sticking point at the moment appears to be the size of the Kyrgyz government’s stake in the new enterprise.  Everybody agrees that the mine is too important to be allowed to fail and the EBRD, (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), are the latest to come on board as helping to resolve the issues.

Maybe this is a bit radical, but I think I prefer the idea that the government doesn’t have a stake in the company … I am not keen on government involvement in running businesses.  Personally, I think that they should set the conditions, regulate and tax the company activities rather than involved in the management of the company itself.  I am, however, probably in a minority on this point.

Concerning the other goldfields scattered around the country, it was announced that the “mill” at the Taldybulak mine should become operational in the first half of next year and the ill fated auction of the Jeeroy site is going to be re-staged with an asking price of USD100 million – down from USD300 million in the last failed auction.

Kyrgyzstan’s entry to the Customs Union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan has been put on hold for a while.  It had been planned that we would join at the end of the year, but both President and Prime Minister have now said that this has been postponed until the outstanding issues are resolved.  The main one at the moments seems to be tariffs and duties … with prices expected to rise once we do enter.

Something that hasn’t been put on hold is the American withdrawal from the Manas Transit Center.  The Prime Minister even felt that it was necessary to deny this and refer to reports to this effect that have appeared as mere rumour and speculation.   A team from America has arrived to discuss the various issues and necessary arrangements, according to the President, some of the work neccessary to transform the base into a civilian hub has already been undertaken.

 

 

_______________________________________

Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there has been the following postcards:

It is possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg, Kyrgyz Diary and Kyrgyzstan Visitki), and also on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

Tags: , , ,
Write comment | Trackback
Comment closed.