The steep and steady rise of the urban population in Turkmenistan poses new and growing concerns about environmental impacts. The sources of these impacts are varied – rising use of motor vehicles, expansion of public lighting, consumption of resources by new residential and tourist zones, and even increases in ambient temperature from the urban heat island effect. Likewise, the impacts themselves range from local pollution and congestion, to depletion of scarce national water resources, to increases in greenhouse gas emissions and contributions to global climate change. There is ample potential for introduction of sustainable urban development to Turkmenistan, but institutional and economic barriers that favor growth and consumption without regard to sustainability, as well as insufficient technical know-how regarding sustainable urban best practices, need to be addressed. The proposed UNDP/GEF full-sized project (FSP) seeks to remove these barriers through an integrated program of activities in Turkmenistan’s two most visible, rapidly developing cities, Ashgabat and Awaza, thereby unlocking this technical potential and achieving significant GHG reductions and other environmental benefits.
The project will result in a nationwide transformation of urban planning, investment, and management practices in Turkmenistan, from its current mode focusing on the speed, magnitude, and impressiveness of urban growth characterized by high resource inefficiency and negative environmental impacts towards new paths to integrated, low-carbon sustainable urban development. This transformation will be ensured via a combination of bottom-up interventions demonstrating integrated approaches to sustainable urban development in two key cities, Ashgabat and Awaza, and the nation-wide work to introduce enabling policy framework and raise awareness about urban sustainability among city authorities, residents and visitors.
Ashgabat and Awaza
The most notable recent urban growth in Turkmenistan has taken place in two distinct locales – the capital city of Ashgabat and the new resort zone of Awaza on the Caspian Sea. Ashgabat’s population has increased by about 40 percent in the last 15 years, from about 524,000 in the year 2000 to more than 735,000 in 2014. This population growth has triggered the creation of several wholly new developed areas, many major new public and residential building projects, and expansion of associated infrastructure. Notably, the city is currently hard at work creating facilities and upgrading infrastructure in preparation for hosting the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017.
Just eight years ago, Awaza was a modest little beach town with minimal infrastructure or services beyond rest and recreation for local residents. Then, in 2007, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedow articulated his vision for creation of a world-class tourist resort at Awaza. Since then, the area has undergone rapid development, with the construction of several hotels, parks, recreation facilities, and accompanying infrastructure, including roads and a full renovation of the airport at the city of Turkmenbashi, about 15 kilometers away. The Government has invested over $1.5 billion in construction at Awaza so far, with plans for further construction of many more luxury hotels, a full-scale recreation complex, casinos, and shopping centers by 2020. Further infrastructure improvements will include construction of a new gas-fired power plant, a desalination plant on the Caspian Sea, sewage treatment plants, and water supply networks, as well as upgrades to the port of Turkmenbashi to accommodate tourists arriving by boat. Awaza is also promoted as a potential future spot for headquarters for corporations seeking to establish economic bases on the eastern shore of the Caspian.
Sustainable urban development in Turkmenistan
In Turkmenistan as in all countries worldwide, the development of cities has led to increased negative environmental impact – consumption of natural resources, generation of waste, local air and water pollution, and emissions of greenhouse gases. These problems call for integrated strategies for sustainable urban development, to measurably reduce all of these impacts via a combination of planning, investment, technical solutions, policy, capacity-building, and outreach, without compromising social and economic development goals.
The government of Turkmenistan has begun to recognize the importance of sustainable urban development in Ashgabat and Awaza, not only for mitigation of local and global environmental harm, but also for creation of increased comfort, reduced traffic and travel times, and beautification of public spaces. These social benefits, in turn, should lead to greater happiness among citizens and enhanced demand for tourism and other economic activity.
Furthermore, the Government recognizes that Ashgabat and Awaza, as the nation’s primary destinations for foreigners, are very important in terms of the country’s global image. To date, development of these two cities has emphasized a grandeur consistent with the nation’s rapid rise to prosperity and its high aspirations for future growth. But the Government also recognizes that these two showcase cities could win the respect and good will of the international community (as well as tourism revenue and investment) by demonstrating Turkmenistan’s responsible citizenship in the global community of nations, as well as its readiness to implement smart, technically sound best practices in urban planning and management.
The project will consist of three components, each with multiple activities and planned outputs
Component 1 seeks to reduce environmental impacts associated with public spaces and infrastructure in Ashgabat. It will seek to increase the energy efficiency of public lighting and transportation through planning, technical measures, and investment. The component also includes activity to quantify and mitigate the urban heat island effect in Ashgabat.
Component 2 seeks to institutionalize sustainability in the emerging tourism sector in Awaza. It will support the design and implementation of green building design in a new hotel. Green practices will also be introduced to existing hotels via operational standards. Finally, as in Ashgabat, the project will also seek to enhance lighting and transportation efficiency, with solutions specific to Awaza’s economic directions and character.
Component 3 will support the scale-up of results from the first two components via monitoring, documentation, knowledge-sharing, and development of national policy. This component will include efforts toward the adoption of national standards for fuel efficiency of imported vehicles and other relevant national policies and regulations.
Component 1. Integrated solutions for low-carbon and climate-resilient public space in Ashgabat
Project’s first component will improve capacities and enabling conditions in Ashgabat to identify, design and implement integrated low-carbon and climate resilient solutions in the public space leading to GHG emission reductions and other social and environmental benefits for Ashgabat’s residents and visitors
Activity 1.1. Demonstration and replication of energy-efficient and solar-powered public lighting. The project will provide technical assistance and a share of incremental costs for the installation of energy-efficient street lighting (or other outdoor lighting of public spaces) along one or more major streets in Ashgabat. Newly installed lighting will include LEDs and solar electricity supply, with expected reduction of fossil energy consumption of 50-100 percent per fixture relative to baseline. Application of smart grid technology, where possible, will reduce energy consumption further in lighting networks, with targeted reduction of grid losses by 20 percent. This activity will also involve the promotion of LEDs in indoor lighting of public buildings, with a target of increasing their share of overall lighting in these buildings by at least 30 percent by the end of the project period. Results will be compiled and presented to the Ministry of Energy as justification and technical guidance for replication elsewhere in the city/country. The project will provide technical and management support for implementation and evaluation of replication efforts.
Activity 1.2. Promoting sustainable urban transport solutions. The project will develop an integrated plan for management of growing private motor vehicle traffic in Ashgabat, including designation of special lanes for buses and bicycles (at least 20 km in total), special lane restrictions during peak hours, and/or new incentives for bus ridership leading to a reduction of at least 10 percent in projected vehicle-hours of driving private cars in the city. This component will also include technical and investment support for assessment, incremental purchase cost, and use of efficient hybrid buses, which would be expected to have at least 30 percent greater fuel economy than diesel-powered buses.
Activity 1.3. Reduction of the urban heat island effect via greening of open space and installation of cool roofs. This activity will begin with a quantitative assessment and modelling of the heat island effect in Ashgabat, as well as associated cooling loads in buildings. Based on the results, a combination of measures will be identified to reduce this effect – most likely, high-albedo roofs and planting of trees (at least 120 hectares). The target is to achieve a documented reduction in ambient temperature of 1 degree Celsius, with commensurate reduction in cooling degree days. A comprehensive program will then be developed to apply these measures as widely as possible in both existing and new neighborhoods. Quantitative assessment of reductions in temperature and energy consumption will be repeated after the mitigation measures are applied.
Activity 1.4. Development of city-wide sustainability plans. The project will assist officials from the city administration of Ashgabat, as well as any responsible velayat and national officials, in developing integrated sustainability plans for the city. This work will include assistance in preparing the actual plans, including capital and operational budgets, agency assignments, timetables, performance metrics, and so on. The component will also deliver training and capacity-building of the officials to ensure that they can integrate sustainability into their own work during and after the project period.
Component 2. Sustainable Tourism Infrastructure and Management Practices in Awaza
The defining outcome of project’s second component will be institutionalization of sustainable, low-carbon tourism in Awaza:
Activity 2.1. Design, construction, and operation of a green and energy-efficient hotel. UNDP will support the Balkan velayat authorities and their selected contractors in design of a hotel in Awaza, with state-of-the-art measures for energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy supply, and environmentally friendly materials. The legitimacy of this building as the first “green” hotel in Turkmenistan will be certified by one or both of the LEED and BREEAM rating systems. The goal will be for this hotel to earn either a LEED Platinum or BREEAM Outstanding certification, or both. Energy savings from this hotel will be targeted at no less than 65 percent per square meter relative to other hotels in Awaza.
The hotel will enter into operation during the project period. During operation, not only will it provide comfortable rest and services to guests, but it will also serve as an educational platform for designers and operators of other hotels, and a vehicle for publicity for Awaza and green tourism.
Activity 2.2. Implementation of city-wide green standards for management of energy, water, and waste in hotel operations. The project will develop green standards for operation of existing hotels in Awaza, and then will promote their implementation throughout the tourist zone (among 15 existing hotels and the new ones), leading to a reduction of both carbon intensity and water consumption by 10 percent. These standards may include a combination of required actions, including energy audit to identify conservation opportunities in rooms, kitchens, and other facilities such as saunas and swimming pools; ongoing energy management to ensure optimal performance of energy-using systems and controls; water-conservation audit; installation of low-water toilets and shower fixtures; elimination of daily laundering of sheets and towels; reduction of waste in packaging and other disposable items; and so on. Results will be measured at all participating and non-participating hotels. As with Output 2.1, the technical content of this activity will be accompanied by promotional efforts to draw attention to the green practices and their importance to the hotels of Awaza.
Activity 2.3. Demonstration and replication of energy-efficient and solar-powered public lighting. As in Ashgabat, the project will design one or more upgrades of public lighting in Awaza, and will cover a portion of incremental costs with GEF funds. These upgrades could involve simple street lighting or more complex, visually creative installations in parks or other recreation sites, including those involving color, and could involve efficiency, renewable energy supply, or both. The design process and installed performance of the new lighting system will be documented and used as justification and technical guidance for replication throughout the tourism zone. The target is to achieve by the end of the project the deployment of LEDs and/or other efficient or renewable-energy-powered light sources in 100 percent of newly lit areas and 50 percent of areas currently lit with inefficient lamps and fixtures along streets and other public areas of Awaza.
Activity 2.4. Optimally efficient surface transportation. Tourism in Awaza is still at a rather moderate level. Therefore, there is no pressing need at present for traffic management plans. Furthermore, an emphasis on public bus transport would seem inconsistent with the character of the site as a luxury travel destination. There is, however, some opportunity to increase energy efficiency in transport in Awaza by promoting the use of hybrid and/or electric vehicles – taxis, tour buses and vans, and shuttles to and from the airport in Turkmenbashi. The project will assist local authorities in designing programs to encourage their use, either via mandates for state entities, or incentives for private transportation providers with the aim of increasing fuel efficiency of at least 50 percent of the existing fleets of taxis, tour buses, and/or airport shuttles in Awaza, by 30 percent compared to baseline.
Activity 2.5. Capacity-building of planners, officials, and managers of tourist facilities in Awaza. In order to support the effective implementation of all the other activities under this component, the project will deliver technical and managerial training to a wide array of responsible parties in Awaza – urban planners, administrators, hotel managers, maintenance personnel, and others. This training will provide technical guidance on planning, operation, monitoring, and maintenance of new systems in building, lighting, and transport. More broadly, it will also clarify the concept and the advantages of sustainability in order to help ensure ownership of new practices.
Component 3. Monitoring, Knowledge-Sharing, and Municipal and National Policy
The intended outcome of the project’s third component is the nation-wide replication and scale-up of results of the first two components via information dissemination, enhancement of capacity of agencies and managers, and adoption of supportive policies and regulation:
Activity 3.1. Monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). The project will document all of the technical design and performance results of its activities in lighting, transport, hotel design and management, and reduction of ambient temperatures and cooling loads. Furthermore, at the level of the whole project, progress, quantitative results, and lessons learned will be regularly compiled and reported to UNDP and GEF in accordance with established requirements for monitoring, reporting, and verification of project activity. This work will feed substantially into the Midterm and Terminal Evaluations, and will also result in a final report on project results and lessons learned, as well as numerous smaller reports on specific subjects. This activity will also include the establishment of procedures and responsibilities for MRV efforts by Turkmen agencies in assessing sustainability programs in both Ashgabat and Awaza. These procedures will remain in place after the end of the project, thus helping to assure effective and responsive management of future sustainability efforts.
Activity 3.2. Knowledge-sharing and public-relations outreach throughout Turkmenistan and among similar projects in the region. The project will seek to maximize knowledge-sharing, both among the cities of Turkmenistan and among the countries of the region. Knowledge-sharing will flow both to and from the project. Modes of information exchange will vary widely, depending on intended audiences. Reports on results and lessons learned from all project activities, as compiled in Activity 3.1, will be made available via UNDP’s website and will be presented at conferences and other forums as appropriate. Project staff will invite interested visitors to the two cities, with field visits to demonstration sites.
The project will also conduct broader-themed public-relations activity to the general public within and outside Turkmenistan. It will seek to tell success stories from the two cities in the national and international mass media, as well as social media where accessible. This work will be designed for synergy with the government’s PR efforts among citizens and the public to promote the two cities as examples of sustainability, innovation, and social responsibility.
Activity 3.3. National policies in support of integrated and scaled-up green urban practices. National policies are needed to set clear mandates for sustainable urban development, to define specific action steps and agency roles, to ensure integration and mutual consistency among goals of social and economic development and sustainability, and to provide a basis for needed state investment and nationwide scale-up. The project will support such policies, possibly as stand-alone documents (such as Ministry orders or action plans) or possibly as part of the National Low-Emission Development Plan.
Activity 3.4. National standards for fuel efficiency of imported cars. Finally, and not least, the project will conduct analysis and develop standards or regulations for fuel efficiency of imported cars. By the end of the project, these standards would result in an increase by 15 percent in the fuel efficiency of cars imported for sale in the country. The exact form of these standards or regulations (required average efficiency over a whole vendor fleet, or overall limits or tariffs on the worst “gas-guzzlers,” or other approaches) will be more closely assessed during project preparation and implementation.
Objective of the assignment
The objective of the PPG is to develop a full-sized project that aims to promote and implement integrated low-carbon urban systems in Turkmenistan’s two most visible, rapidly developing cities, Ashgabat and Awaza, thereby reducing GHG emissions and other negative environmental impacts, while also promoting the economic and social well-being of citizens and increasing the attractiveness of both cities to visitors.
Outcome of the assignment
The end result of assignment will be completed Request for CEO Endorsement and Project Document for the UNDP-GEF FSP “Sustainable Cities in Turkmenistan: Integrated Green Urban Development in Ashgabat and Awaza”.
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