Building Relationships
French construction firm Bouygues has consolidated its position in the Turkmen market by securing new contracts for the reconstruction of the facade of the Turkmen state university and the building of the physics and mathematics faculty. Bouygues CEO Martin Bouygues discussed the projects with President Saparmurat Niyazov in a meeting on Friday. According to NewsCentralAsia, they also spoke about the possibility of the creation of a permanent site for the Khalk Maslahaty. The Khalk Maslahaty, or People’s Council, generally meets once a year, though often in different cities. In speaking about his aspirations for the institution’s site Niyazov called for a high standards:
“This great Palace should become the work of art, comprising both elements of innovation and best traditions of Turkmen architecture”
The exchange came after the inauguration of the new building of the State Academy of Arts, as turkmenistan.ru reported. This building was created by Bouygues at a cost of $40 million and has been designed to accommodate training facilities for up to 300 local artists.
This was only one of several lucrative projects undertaken by Bouygues in Turkmenistan. Among these was the building of the ministry of agricultures for $89.3 million and the ministry of trade for $64 million. Work carried out by Bouygues in Turkmenistan has to date generated costs of over a billion dollars. Though Niyazov has often spoken of his satisfaction with Bouygues’s standards, he did once speak out against the poor quality of work in the Kipchak Mosque, built in the president’s home town. At the time, it was reported that the mosque’s dome has begun to turn patina green, instead of the intended gold.
on February 22nd, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Martin Bouygues must be laughing his way to the bank with sacks full of Niyazov’s money. Ashkhabad, a gaudy cross between Pyongyang and Imperial Rome, is full of Bouygues’ cheap marble “palaces”. Every year there are several ministries, theaters, academic buildings, or high-rises erected in white marble splendor, and every year Bouygues makes several hundred million dollars more. Most of the new buildings show their lack of quality after just a year: discolored marble slabs, rotted panelling, faulty electrical wiring, rust stains, etc. Cheap labor is imported from India, and these workers are usually stuffed in old dormitory buildings or cramped apartment blocks that are hidden from view by the latest Bouygues project.
But, to be fair, Bouygues is just doing what it normally does. And who can knock somebody for wanting to turn a profit off a dictator that is basically handing it out? If Niyazov is willing to pay for these buildings, then let him.
However, just a brief note on the Gypchak mosque. Rumor has it that the the mosque was originally set to be built by a Turkish construction firm. But when the Turks found out that the interior of the mosque would not be covered in verse from the Quran, but rather in verse from Niyazov’s sacred Ruhnama, they supposedly bailed on the project. Bouygues, it seems, was there to pick up the pieces, and had no qualms with the elaborate printing of Ruhnama text on the interior of the mosque’s dome. If only they had put such care and effort into the outside of the now-patina green dome, they may have avoided the paternal tongue lashing of the “Father of all Turkmen”.