Ala-Buka Village
Ala-Buka Village is the administrative center in the west of Kyrgyzstan, located in the southern foothills of the Chatkal Range. It is situated on a small mountain plain in the valley of the Ala-Buka River (a tributary of Kasan-Say, part of the Syr Darya basin), at an altitude of about 1180 m above sea level. The village is located 6 kilometers north of the Uzbek border and 750 kilometers from Bishkek, the capital of the country.
The population of Ala-Buka Village is about 12,000.
Both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks live here. In this remote corner, due to the unfinished demarcation of the state border, ethnic conflicts often arise. The village has a regional advisory committee (RAC) for interethnic conflicts, as well as an employment and youth assistance center where Russian, English, and Japanese languages are taught. Education in schools is conducted in Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Russian, and Tajik languages.
Nearby is the Kasan-Say Reservoir, which is important for the national economy and is a subject of territorial dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Ala-Buka is connected by roads, one of which leads south to the Fergana Valley, with which the local population has strong economic ties.
The main occupations of the residents of Ala-Buka are agriculture, small business, and the service sector. The village also has an airfield serving regional flights. Ala-Buka has sports facilities (a swimming pool, a stadium), a library, a cultural center, and a district museum.
On February 9, 2017, the official opening of a factory for the production of plastic pipes from plastic waste for drip irrigation took place in Ala-Buka Village of the Jalal-Abad region, which is now used in the fields to conserve water resources.
The village traces its history back to 1900, having emerged as a result of the development of territories annexed to the Russian Empire.