Disasters can strike when we least expect them, leaving devastating impacts on our lives, communities, and economic activities. However, we have the power to reduce their risks and ensure a safer tomorrow. This Disaster Risk Reduction Day, October 13th, emphasizes the importance of proactively managing and reducing disaster risks. It's a global effort to raise awareness, foster resilience, and work collectively to build a more disaster-resilient world.

JICA started cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction in the road sector in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2016. More than 95% of passenger and freight traffic in the country is transported by the automobile. It is highly important to ensure safety on the roads of the country which are mostly mountainous and thus prone to various disasters like avalanche, landslide, rockfall etc.

The point of km 246 of the Bishkek-Osh strategic highway used to be one of the most dangerous sections characterized by the big volume of snow accumulation on the slopes and high risk of the avalanche disaster. The avalanches in this area (called Kochku-Bulak) descending in the past claimed the lives and blocked the road because of the snow clearing works.

JICA and Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic took a decision to address this problem in order to protect human lives and secure smooth traffic on the strategic Bishkek-Osh road. The civil works started in the construction season of 2019 and finished in 2023 (because of the COVID19 pandemic, the construction halted in the season of 2020).

Finally, on 19th of October, 2023, the protection facility named “Kyrgyz-Japan Friendship Gallery” was officially opened. At the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Akylbek Japarov, noted that the advanced Japanese technologies were applied in the construction and learnt by the local companies who were involved as subcontractors, and this gallery will serve to a significant number of people of the Kyrgyz Republic and even other countries.

The Avalanche Protection on the Bishkek-Osh Road Project was implemented under the grant aid scheme at the cost of 4,288,000,000.00 Japanese yen.

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