City of Kara-Suu
The city of Kara-Suu serves as the administrative center of the district of the same name.
It was founded as a settlement near transport lines - the Osh - Jalal-Abad highway and the railway. The distance to the capital of Kyrgyzstan is 650 km, and to the nearest airport in the city of Osh — 22 km. The closest airport is located 24 kilometers away. The city limits are crossed by the Bishkek – Urumqi highway of interregional significance and the railway mainline connecting Europe, the CIS countries, and East Asia.
The population is 25,000 as of 2017.
The first documentary mention of the settlement of Kara-Suu dates back to 1917.
In 1965, Kara-Suu was granted city status.
Together with the adjacent rural administration estate of Sarai, Kara-Suu forms a single settlement in architectural terms.
Several industrial enterprises operate in the city, including those in the processing, transportation, and food industries, as well as trade and repair-construction organizations. Small firms actively provide household services to the population and specialize in wholesale supplies of food and industrial products.
The backbone of the city's economy is currently the Kara-Suu wholesale and retail market, which serves buyers from all over southern Kyrgyzstan and adjacent regions of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The main supplies of goods to the market come from China and the Dordoi market near Bishkek. In addition to local traders, citizens of the PRC and Uzbekistan also work at the market.
Industrial enterprises operate in the city, although their output is minimal and primarily aimed at meeting local needs:
AO "Ak-Altyn" (cotton processing plant)
AO "Aska" (oil extraction plant)
GAO "Dan-Azyk" (grain products plant)
AO "Uluk-Nan" (bread factory)
AO "Avtoremzavod" (repair/engines)
AO "Selkhoztekhnika"
OsOO "Buudai-Nan" (grain products plant).
Within the city limits are located the administration of the customs point Sharikhan – Sai, a bus station, a railway station, and the international market Kyrgyz Sooda Birimdigii, where medium-sized businesses from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan operate. Products are delivered to the market by freight vehicles in large volumes.
As early as 1979, a plan was developed to relocate cotton processing and oil production plants outside the city, which has not been realized to this day. The reasons were related to the high costs of implementing large-scale measures. The education system includes kindergartens, music schools, and secondary schools, as well as a gymnasium-internat.
The main attractions of the city include the Center for the Study of the Holy Quran and two mosques - Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam As-Sarakhsky. The earliest documentary sources mentioning Kara-Suu date back to 1917. It is a multinational settlement, with the majority of residents being Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. Among representatives of other ethnicities are Tajiks, Uighurs, Russians, Kazakhs, Dungans, Koreans, and Armenians – descendants of settlers who arrived here during the pre-revolutionary period and the Soviet era.
The city has 3 kindergartens, 10 secondary schools, 1 gymnasium-internat, and 1 music school. The literacy rate among the adult population is 97%. The percentage of the population with higher and incomplete higher education is 15.2% of the working-age population. The percentage of the population with secondary specialized education is 20% of the working-age population.
The city is home to the football club "Zhashtyk-Ak-Altyn," champion of Kyrgyzstan in 2003, silver medalist of the Kyrgyzstan championship in 2001, 2002, and bronze medalist in 1999, 2004—2007. The club has reached the final of the Kyrgyzstan Cup seven times (2001—2006, 2008) and lost all seven times, three times to the club SKA-PVO and four times to the club "Dordoi-Dynamo."
