Tajik crisis cutbacks – from four wheels to two

Officials from Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications will be using bicycles instead of their ministerial cars from April 1.

Tajik Deputy Minister of Transport, Beg Zukhurov, wasn’t fooling when he announced that his ministry had already bought a hundred bicycles, made in Russia and China, for its employees in a move to curb the economic slowdown.

Zukhurov decided to become a role model for his colleagues and took up cycling on March 18, two weeks before the deadline. The deputy minister was quoted as saying that the collective switch from cars to bicycles would help save taxpayers’ money during the crisis. “First and foremost we must protect the interests of our society and country. In all developed countries, the majority of the population rides bicycles. It’s good for your health,” says Zukhurov.

Statistics say that half of China’s population rides bicycles, while up to 40% of Europeans prefer two wheels to four.

But critics of Tajikistan’s “bicycle reform” say officials won’t save much on car fuel simply because there aren’t many cars belonging to local ministries. The Labor and Social Ministry count only nine cars in its fleet, eight of which are Russian.