In the folds of Tien Shan and Pamir, which cover 94% of the national territory, except the shepherds, the big herds of horses, the songs of riders, the cattle go in summertime on the heights, cows, sheep and yaks per thousands. Villages are set like a string of oasis at the bottom of the valleys and along the banks of lake Issyk-Kul.

To communicate from one valley to another, to move their herds and to exploit the estival pastures, to sell their productions on the local and regional markets, these mountaineers use the existing tracks and road.

But the dilapidated bridges give them a serious handicap. This mountain habitat is very far away from the economic and decisional centers of Kyrghyztan and the populations have the feeling of being apart of the central power.

How to find the means of keeping these bridges in good repair?

That is the question some swiss travellers wondered, who know well the area and keep coming back since 1992. Thus, in February 2001, was born Pamir's Bridges, a Swiss association of the help of development.

According to the study realized the following spring, and thanks to the collected funds, the realization of the first emergency plan should make possible the reconstruction, or the repair of twenty bridges in the district of Karakol, between 2 500 and 4 000 meters of altitude.

The priority will be given to the use of natural materials provided by the area, such as wood and stones. It will provide work to the local populations which are almost exclusively busy with the breeding and forest work.

The aim : restoring bridges in order to maintain population stability in the mountains of Central Asia

To ensure safety and effectiveness, as much for the realization of work as the follow-up, the association benefits from the scientific Center of development and environment of the geographic Institute of the University of Bern.

Such a project should support the maintenance of the populations in their respective area, thus avoiding the rural depopulation of this country which, after sixty ten years of Soviet administration, passes with difficulty to a market economy.

Words from Bernard Répond,
president of the association Palmir's Bridges.