"At first we believed that everything from the West was the best quality, but we learned to develop a verification process," admits Amanjol Chikanaev, who heads the General Development plan of Astana. I had asked him if in building a sparkling, modern capital city out of the wind-blown steppes in just a few years, quality didn't suffer. We had heard of some complaints about beautiful exteriors but shoddy work. But early errors built Mr. Chikanaev's experience and he is a busy man. He has to at least double the size of this city in 20 years. His agenda is booked until 2030. He opened up his offices, coming in on a holiday, to show us a huge maquette of the future city. The model buildings in blue were yet to be built and those in white exist. Blue covered well over half of the floor. Mr. Chikanaev moved his very long pointer from point to point indicating new schools, universities, sport complexes and hospitals. If you are an architect, this is your heaven.
Rosa Otunbaeva, the recently proclaimed new President of Kirghizia, is in town. I was able to first interview her in her capital of Bishkek during the uprising in April which brought down the corrupt government of Kurmanbek Bakiev. As in April, I was left with the impression that she is a very intelligent, sincere person. She has a tremendous job ahead of her to rebuild the country and find investors to help better the lives of Kirghizia's 5 million people.
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