BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 28. The international
forum “White City Ashgabat – 2026,” held on May 24-25, served as an
important industry platform dedicated to construction and urban
infrastructure. It was within the framework of this forum that
Turkmenistan presented the “Ashgabat-2045” concept, which envisions
a long-term transformation of the capital into a modern smart city
with digital, environmental, and intelligent infrastructure.
The project is particularly significant given that Ashgabat
currently concentrates a substantial share of the country’s
economic activity. According to Turkmenistan’s Minister of Finance
and Economy Mammethguly Astangulov, the capital accounts for more
than 27% of the country’s GDP, covering industry, construction,
transport, communications, financial institutions, and retail
networks.
In addition, according to official population census results,
around 14.6% of Turkmenistan’s population lives in Ashgabat. This
makes the capital the largest hub of administrative governance,
financial services, infrastructure, and economically active
population. Therefore, the country is logically beginning its
digital transformation from Ashgabat.
In many ways, the “Ashgabat-2045” concept reflects a broader
strategy of Turkmenistan’s transition toward new models of economic
development. In recent years, the issue of moving toward a digital
economy has become increasingly relevant. As Trend previously
reported in its article “Turkmenistan bets on AI, 5G and Musk: regional trends
force action,” one of the key drivers of Turkmenistan’s push
toward digitalization is regional dynamics in Central Asia, which
require coordinated action among all five countries of the
region.
For example, the development of international transport
corridors crossing the region requires eliminating bottlenecks
along their routes. Such bottlenecks often include customs
procedures for cargo processing across the fragmented state borders
of Central Asia, as well as inefficiencies in warehouse
distribution. The unification of databases, accelerated information
exchange, and the creation of a digital platform tracking logistics
and business processes could significantly improve progress in
addressing these issues.
In this context, the smart city concept may play a much more
important role than merely urban development. In modern conditions,
a smart city effectively represents a unified digital platform
integrating transport, utilities, energy, communications, services,
monitoring systems, and elements of public administration.
In the long term, such infrastructure can serve as a foundation
for a broader digital system of economic management. Since Ashgabat
concentrates government institutions, the financial sector, and
coordination of a significant part of industrial activity, the
capital can become a testing ground for digital monitoring
mechanisms of economic processes.
This may include the introduction of systems for tracking
sectoral KPIs, monitoring enterprise productivity, analyzing
resource consumption, automating reporting, and integrating various
economic entities into a unified digital ecosystem. If successfully
tested in Ashgabat, such mechanisms could later be scaled to other
regions of Turkmenistan.
This is particularly important for industry, one of the key
pillars of the country’s economy. Today, Turkmenistan is already
focusing on modernizing production, expanding domestic processing,
and developing construction industry infrastructure. In his 2025
remarks, Minister of Finance and Economy Mammethguly Astangulov
noted that electricity generation, building materials production,
as well as light and food industries play an important role in
Ashgabat’s economic structure.
At the same time, the smart city concept can deliver benefits
not only for the state and economy, but also directly for the
population. International experience shows that the implementation
of intelligent urban management systems is typically associated
with improvements in quality of life.
In Singapore, digitalization of public services and intelligent
transport management helped reduce bureaucratic burdens and improve
urban infrastructure efficiency. In Dubai, the Smart Dubai
initiative led to a large-scale digital transformation of
government services and accelerated interaction between business
and the state. South Korea’s Songdo became one of the most
well-known examples of IoT-based infrastructure integration,
automated utilities management, and intelligent waste
processing.
As the smart city concept develops, international organizations
increasingly view urban digitalization as a tool for improving
quality of life, governance efficiency, and economic
sustainability. The World Economic Forum notes that modern smart
cities should focus not only on technological implementation but
also on improving urban environments, citizen engagement, and
state-society interaction.
Similarly, the World Bank and UN-Habitat emphasize that digital
infrastructure, data systems, and smart technologies can enhance
urban economic efficiency, expand access to services, reduce
inequality, and create new economic opportunities. Particular
attention is given to the development of digital skills, service
integration, and the use of technology for more efficient urban
governance and resource management.
In this context, smart cities typically deliver several
practical outcomes: more efficient transport management, reduced
time for public service delivery, lower pressure on utility
networks, optimized energy consumption, improved environmental
conditions, and overall better urban governance efficiency.
For Ashgabat, such modernization is particularly important given
climatic factors. In conditions of high temperatures and
significant energy system load, issues of energy efficiency, water
supply, and rational resource use become not only technological but
also economic necessities.
Environmental priorities also play an important role in the
concept. This aligns with the broader logic of “Ashgabat-2045,”
where the smart city concept, green economy, and circular economy
are gradually integrated into a unified long-term development
model.
At the same time, the scale of the project implies that its
implementation will require significant investment, workforce
training, and further expansion of digital infrastructure. Issues
related to system integration, dependence on foreign technologies,
and long implementation timelines will also remain important
factors.
Nevertheless, the overall logic of the concept is already
clearly visible. Turkmenistan is seeking to transform Ashgabat not
only into a modern urban project but also into a platform for the
gradual technological transformation of the national economy. Given
that the capital already generates more than a quarter of the
country’s GDP and concentrates a significant share of its
financial, administrative, and infrastructural systems, it can
serve as a key testing ground for future nationwide
digitalization.
