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Almost 5,000 lifts operating in Uzbekistan’s residential buildings have exceeded their rated service life, the country’s construction minister told parliament on 13 October, laying bare the scale of a maintenance crisis that leaves elderly residents and people with disabilities most exposed to breakdowns and entrapments.
Sherzod Khidoyatov, Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services, made the disclosure during a government question hour in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis. He put the number of overdue lifts at 4,973, attributing the failures to inadequate technical servicing rather than age alone. “One of the causes of breakdowns is the failure to carry out timely maintenance and preventive repairs,” he said.
The admission came after deputy Zokirjon Zohidov of the People’s Democratic Party pressed the minister on why complaints from apartment residents — particularly older people and those with disabilities — about frequent stoppages and passengers trapped in cabins had persisted despite the introduction of digital oversight tools. Zohidov also asked how many lifts required overhaul or full replacement, and whether firm deadlines had been set.
A Decade of Patchy Progress
Khidoyatov said that between 2021 and 2026, state budget funds were used to replace 3,274 lifts and repair a further 71. A presidential decree — UP-21, signed on 16 February 2026 — now mandates the repair or replacement of 4,953 lifts by 2030, with funding described as already allocated. The minister did not clarify how many of the 4,973 overdue units remain in daily use, nor how the completed replacement figures relate to the new programme’s targets, leaving a gap in the public accounting.
The ministry says it maintains an electronic register covering 19,740 lifts installed across 7,201 buildings, with 18,489 units recorded as currently in operation and 93 servicing organisations listed. Since 1 May 2025 a unified inter-agency digital platform called Xavfsiz lift (Safe Lift) has provided remote monitoring of the stock.
Digital Controls and a Colour-Coded Inspection Regime
Khidoyatov described the platform as a hard gate for new construction: a developer who fails to meet all prescribed requirements cannot register a lift through Xavfsiz lift, and a residential building cannot receive its occupancy certificate until every lift in it has passed. Acceptance requires uploaded safety-compliance documents, a signed contract with a licensed maintenance firm, functioning communications and video surveillance, and a live connection to a dispatch centre. Oversight is shared among construction supervision, industrial safety and technical regulation bodies.
“If we do not continuously monitor lifts, carry out their servicing and ensure accountability for their safety, it will lead to serious problems,” the minister said. “That is why all these requirements are embedded in the electronic platform.”
A separate government resolution adopted in July introduced mandatory annual technical inspections for all lifts in service, with units to be colour-coded from green — fit for use — to red, denoting a dangerous condition. The same document sets qualification requirements for inspectors.
The combination of a large inherited backlog, a new presidential programme, a digital monitoring platform and a freshly codified inspection regime reflects an administration trying to move from reactive crisis management to systemic oversight. Whether the 2030 replacement target will be met — and how many of the nearly 5,000 overdue lifts will remain in service in the meantime — are questions the minister left unanswered before the chamber.