As any resident of Ashgabat can relate, the building boom in the city has been phenomenal. Much of it has sadly been at the expense of displaced homeowners, who have often had properties seized without compensation. IWPR in particular has done a few reports on this, like this one.

Latterly, the project to receive most attention has been the much ridiculed Ice Palace in Ashgabat (pictured above), which is expected to be completed in the next few months. It must be said that most of the mockery addressed at this building is unfair as it is the type of facility that exists in countless countries, not excluding warm ones. Furthermore, it is likely to be a popular feature in a place where entertaining oneself can often prove problematic. Initial reports, like this one at the BBC, did much to aggravate the perception of the construction as an eccentric vanity project and may have been based on a mistranslation. The skiing that is mentioned in the story is presumably possible in the mountains in winter time, though I would need confirmation from Turkmenistan for that.
Among recent projects to be announced are the construction of two 12-storey luxury blocks of flats. The blocks, which will include 36 flats each and cost $13 million, will be built by Turkish comapny Ichkale Inshaat Ltd Shirketi, a company that has benefited from a number of commissions in Turkmenistan. The company previously won a $12 million tender to build a sanatorium in Chuli for Turkmen bank workers and their families.
On January 20, it was announced that the Ministry of Trade and the Central Bank have invested $16 million in the creation of a 17,000-square-meter shopping centre, housing “European-style boutiques as well as 400 stalls in a 3,000-square-meter bazaar area,” according to a Turkmenistan.ru report. On point of fact, there already is a modern International Trade Centre in the centre of Ashgabat with European-style shops and an internet centre, though it is not particularly heavily patronised. The interesting detail of the latest project is the provision for a bazaar area, which may well have more appeal for Ashgabat shoppers. Again, work is being undertaken by a Turkish company that has been heavily active in Turkmenistan over the last few years; Polimeks.
Finally, it will come as no surprise that the Turkish Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Mehmet Hilmi Guler recently visited Ashgabat to explore the potential for building Turkmenistan’s first ever metallurgical plant. During the meeting Mehmet Hilmi Guler and President Saparmurat Niyazov also discussed bilateral agreements in the energy sector. Turkmenistan exports electricity to Turkey through Iranian lines under an agreement first signed in May 1998.
More building news from Turkmenistan is, as ever, available from this page on the Turkmen State Information Agency website, which currently sports glowing articles about plans to build a wedding hall, called The Palace of Happiness, and the completion of a concrete riverbed through Ashgabat.