Eight years of broken promises: Samarkand builder jailed as high-rise project leaves dozens of families homeless

On Shokhrukh Street in the heart of Samarkand, a high-rise construction project that began in 2018 stands as a hollow monument to failed dreams. What was once promised to be a modern residential complex has instead become an eight-year legal and financial nightmare. While the builder behind the project languishes in prison, the families who invested their life savings or surrendered their ancestral homes remain in a state of desperate limbo.

The project, managed by the private enterprise "JAHON KAFOLAT STIL," was initially launched under a city administration decree. Approximately 20 local families agreed to vacate their homes to make way for the development. Some residents sold their property outright, others moved into temporary rentals with the promise of new apartments within two years, and many more invested large sums of cash earned from years of labor abroad.

Today, those promises have evaporated. A Kun.uz investigation reveals that the project is now officially classified as a "problematic building." Mavjuda Roziqulova, a former resident who handed over four properties in exchange for three new apartments and compensation, describes a heartbreaking struggle. After losing her son in 2023 and falling ill herself, she could no longer afford rent. She now lives with her grandchildren in a makeshift garage on the construction site that escaped demolition. Another elderly resident, Radik Muminov, has moved into the unfinished shell of the high-rise, living in a room that lacks basic utilities, as he has nowhere else to go.

According to Bekzod Khojayorov, a representative of the Samarkand Regional Department of Construction and Housing and Communal Economy, the project was halted due to severe violations of urban planning norms. The developer ignored the 11-meter height restriction for the area, constructing four floors instead of the permitted three. Furthermore, the work was carried out without the necessary permits and technical conclusions. Consequently, the Samarkand city administration filed a lawsuit, resulting in a court order to demolish the unauthorized floors at the developer's expense.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that the head of "JAHON KAFOLAT STIL" is currently serving a prison sentence. Authorities state they have attempted to coordinate with the builder's relatives to resolve documentation issues, but these efforts have yielded no results.

While the city administration claims that "work is underway to find a solution," the affected citizens argue that vague promises are no longer sufficient. There is an urgent need for a transparent registry at the regional or municipal level to document every claimant and the exact amounts paid. Experts suggest two potential paths forward: attracting a new investor to complete the construction under a strict deadline or providing full financial compensation to the victims. Until then, the families on Shokhrukh Street continue to wait for a resolution that has already been delayed by nearly a decade.