The meeting of the upper house of the Parliament of Turkmenistan was held under the chairmanship of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on Saturday, 22 October. It aimed to address issues such as further improving the country’s public administration system and revising administrative-territorial units such as provinces and districts.
During the meeting, the following decisions were made:
- 6 districts, 5 towns with district rights, 1 city in district, 2 villages, 36 village councils, 36 settlements were abolished
- 19 villages and 3 settlements joined to nearby cities
- 6 villages have been assigned the status of a settlement
- 6 settlements have been assigned the status of village
- 2 districts, 3 cities, 4 settlements, 3 village councils, as well as 21 villages were renamed.
The decision was made in order to improve administration system, control over the systematic and expedient use of state budget funds, as well as taking into account the proposals of the administrations and the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.
According to the report of the Minister of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, changes in the administrative-territorial structure of the country’s regions will save 28 million manats of budget funds.
As a result, the administrative-territorial structure of Turkmenistan includes 5 provinces and 1 city with province rights, 37 districts, 6 cities with district rights, 5 city districts, 42 towns in district, 68 settlements, 469 village councils and 1690 villages.
In the context of the provinces, the administrative-territorial division looks as follows:
Akhal province – districts Ak bugdai, Babadaykhan, Baherden, Geoktepe, Kaakhke, Serakhs and Tejen, 8 towns in districts, 9 settlements, 82 village councils and 231 villages.
Balkan province – districts Turkmenbashi, Esenguli, Makhtumkuli, Serdar (Kyzylarvat), Bereket and Etrek, 2 cities with district rights, 1 district in the city, 6 towns in districts, 14 settlements, 30 village councils and 114 villages.
Dashoguz province – districts Akdepe, named after Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, named after S.A.Niyazov (Shavat), Boldumsaz, Gerogly, Kunyaurgench and Rukhubelent, 1 city with district rights, 8 towns in districts, 7 settlements, 126 village councils and 594 villages.
Lebap province – Chardzhev, Darganata, Dyanev, Khalach, Khojambaz, Kerki, Koytendag, Sayat districts, 1 city with district rights, 14 towns in districts, 24 settlements, 97 village councils and 430 villages.
Mary province – Bayramali, Karakum, Mary, Murghab, Sakarchaga, Turkmenkala, Takhtabazar, Vekilbazar and Yolotan districts, 2 cities with district rights, 6 towns in districts, 14 settlements, 134 village councils and 321 villages.
In accordance with the Constitution, the creating and changing administrative-territorial units is regulated by the Law “On the procedure for resolving issues of the administrative-territorial structure of Turkmenistan”. The document states that the Parliament, in consultation with the Turkmenistan Cabinet of Ministers and the province governorates, is responsible for creating and abolishing administrative-territorial units.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a speech, criticizing the economic performance of the provinces. In particular, shortcomings in the field of water use, wheat sowing rates and cotton harvesting have been mentioned.
Berdimuhamedov cited the presence of a large number of chiefs in local administrations as one of the reasons for this situation. “The number of bosses prevails over the number of employees. Therefore, instead of helping employees, they begin to interfere in their work, creating artificial obstacles,” he said.
He also stressed the need for administrative reforms in the activities of governorates and minimizing the number of chief staff. ///nCa, 24 October 2022