On 14 September horse riders carrying the Asian Games torch relayed from the gas field “Galkynysh” to the capital of Turkmenistan, passed through the model village of “Bereketli zaman” (“The epoch of happiness and prosperity”) which was opened last year in Akhal velayat.
The village was opened in October 2016 with President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov attending the festive opening ceremony.
The state-run media outlets reported that the settlement was designed for 400 households.
However, according to sources at “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, these urban settlements are uninhabited. This is evident in the television footage of carrying the torch through the village. The streets are abandoned, there are no cars or household utensils or other signs of inhabited households in the yards. Schoolchildren, students and public sector employees were involved as extras in the crowd scenes of the television broadcast.
Readers of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that a similar cottage costs 500 to 700 thousand manats depending on the size ($143-200 thousand using the official rate or $76-106 thousand at the “black market” rate). There is no furniture in the houses and even toilet bowls need to be bought separately which means additional expenses.
Let us recall that according to Turkmenistan’s State Statistics Committee, a monthly salary of $360 is considered one of the highest for Turkmenistan. The average salary in Turkmenistan amounts to $150-200 (at the “black market” rate”).
Similar villages have been opened in other velayats by President Berdymukhammedov. In Mary, Dashoguz and Balkan velayats Russian, Uzbek and Kazakh families were involved in the opening ceremony, who, according to the state information agency TDH, were provided with accommodation in the new villages.
