Түркменстанның Лебап уәлаяты

Region of Turkmenistan

Lebap Region ( from the Persian لب آب Lab e āb) is one of the regions of Turkmenistan. It is in the northeast of the country, bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan along the Amu Darya. Its administrative centre is Türkmenabat (formerly named Çärjew). It has an area of 93,727 square kilometers, and a population of 1,447,298 people (2022 census). The name Lebap is a Turkmenized form of the Persian Lab e āb (links=no), which means "riverside" and has long been used to designate the middle reaches of the Amu Darya. It contains the Repetek Nature Reserveas well as the Köýtendag Nature Reserve, which includes Turkmenistan's highest mountain, Aýrybaba (3137 meters). The region's sunny weather and abundance of water resources help produce high quality long staple cotton.

The region of present day Lebap once occupied a spot along the Silk Road. The 9th 10th century caravansaray of Dayahatyn is located within Lebap.

Prior to the Russian Revolution, much of today's Lebap Region was part of either the Khanate of Bukhara or the Khanate of Khiva. The last khan of Bukhara, Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan, nominally submitted to Soviet authority, but in reality joined the Basmachi movement and rebelled against the Bolsheviks. He fled in 1920, and the area was declared a people's republic until Soviet power was firmly established in 1924. In that same year, the settlements at Çärjew and Kerki were formally assigned to the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, along with the western parts of the Khiva khanate along the Amu Darya. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty alleged that the storm disrupted much of the region's electrical grid, public water supplies, natural gas connections, cell service, and internet connection. In December 2020, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty reported that regional officials threatened to cut off the region's population from subsidized food if they were not up to date on their utility bills. The agency reported that many in the region received seasonal income from farming, and often did not earn money in the winter, and such matters were complicated by a decrease in remittances to the region as a result of the economic fallout from COVID 19.

Lebap is rich in various natural resources, most notably, natural gas. The region is home to the Malai Gas Field and the Bagtyýarlyk Gas Field, which both serve as major suppliers of natural gas to China. The Garlyk Mining and Enrichment Amalgamate in Köýtendag District produces potash fertilizer, and the Seýdi Oil Refinery is one of two petroleum refineries in Turkmenistan. From antiquity, local residents quarried sulfur, zinc and lead in the Köýtendag (Kungitang) foothills for domestic needs, including casting of bullets. During the Soviet period, a lead mine was dug and the town of Svintsovyy Rudnik was founded.

The Lebap Cement Plant in Turkmenabat has a design capacity of one million tons per year. Polimeks built it in 2012. In 2020, construction of a second plant, in Köýtendag District, also with a design capacity of one million tons, got underway.

The Zerger power plant under construction by Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, and Rönesans Holding in Çärjew District will have a design capacity of 432 megawatts. It is primarily intended for export of electricity. The Zerger plant will use natural gas from the Üçajy Gas Field (Учаджинскоe газодобывающеe месторождениe), delivered via a 125 km high pressure pipeline. Lebap Region: Production of selected industrial and processed goods, 2017 2019201720182019Electricity, million kwh2,144.12,003.91,820.7Natural gas, billion m327.824.823.0Oil (including gas condensate), thousand tonnes595.9567.8581.9Gasoline, thousand tonnes215.0218.5221.8Diesel fuel, thousand tonnes173190162Bunker oil, thousand tonnes76 90Mineral fertilizers, NPK basis, thousand tonnes30.246.151.1Cement, thousand tonnes861.9935.6857.3Bricks, million217.3256.0269.9Cotton lint, thousand tonnes86.241.0107.1Raw silk, tonnes837481Cotton yarn. thousand tonnes21.822.422.7Silk textiles, million m20.50.40.4Cotton textiles, million m28.58.311.6Unwoven fabric, thousand m29,173