LET THEM EAT SOMETHING OTHER THAN CAKE! DUSHANBE'S MAYOR

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001294

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV EAID ECON TI
SUBJECT: LET THEM EAT SOMETHING OTHER THAN CAKE! DUSHANBE'S MAYOR
FIGHTS POPULAR BISTRO


1. (SBU) A letter from the French Ambassador asking the
Dushanbe city government to halt street construction during an
outdoor Bastille Day celebration has led to the temporary
closure of a popular Dushanbe restaurant and highlighted just
how risky it is to invest in Tajikistan, or even more dangerous,
to invest in a successful enterprise. La Grande Dame,
Dushanbe's only truly European restaurant, announced by email
July 11 it was closed until further notice, due to
"circumstances beyond control." The restaurant had catered two
large U.S. Embassy receptions a week earlier, and enjoyed a full
house most nights, thanks not only to the fresh mozzarella, top
quality steaks, and flourless chocolate cake, but also due to
the lack of alternative high quality European eateries in
Dushanbe.


2. (SBU) PolOff visited the site July 11 to find a distraught
wait staff, an irate French ambassador and French cultural
attachi standing on the terrace amidst roof panels that had been
torn off and stacked. The staff explained that the Mayor's
office had ordered the demolition of the front part of the
restaurant, claiming it was illegally constructed. (NOTE: The
proprietor, an Australian national who also manages a U.S-funded
health project, built an addition and a fagade to give the
building the feel of a French bistro. END NOTE.) The staff
reported that various fire and tax inspectors had come weeks
earlier, but walked away without the usual payoffs they have
come to expect from small businesses because the restaurant
thought its permits were in order.


3. (SBU) The French Ambassador said a few days earlier he had
sent a letter to the city government asking them to halt road
construction during the French Embassy's July 14 reception, to
be held at La Grande Dame. For unknown reasons, the request
unleashed the wrath of the Mayor, who ordered the closure and
demolition. "Tajikistan is a medieval Emirate," raged the
Ambassador. "The Emir decides something, and no one else can
contradict him." The Ambassador reported he had officially
complained to the Foreign Minister and a senior official in the
presidential apparatus, who refused to call the Mayor's office.
"Everyone is afraid of the Mayor," fumed the Ambassador. "The
Emir always gets what he wants. It's the Middle Ages here."


4. (SBU) PolOff later spoke with the proprietor, who between
sobs explained that the order was only the latest in a long
story involving the restaurant and the Mayor's office. "We
thought we had taken care of all the paperwork. The French
Ambassador's letter just stirred up a hornet's nest." While the
restaurant received no written document ordering the demolition,
she resigned herself to losing this battle. She later noted
that the city's demolition team acknowledged that her building
paperwork was in order, and refused to demolish the fagade for
fear of being sued. However, she preferred to demolish the
addition herself, in order to rebuild, than let the city do it.
"This time we'll do a remodelling that the Mayor's office cannot
reject."


5. (SBU) COMMENT: This incident represents more than just
small business fighting city hall and underscores how precarious
any investment in Dushanbe can be. Conflicting regulations,
surprise inspections and corruption from the top down create a
business environment designed to keep even the most
conscientious business owners in fear that if they do not grease
the right palm, their business will be shut down. Embassy
Dushanbe knows plenty of examples of the Mayor's capricious and
egregious behaviour, particularly in his administration's
reluctance to allow Dushanbe's sister city Boulder, Colorado, to
donate a million-dollar Internet cafi.


6. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: La Grande Dame offered good food
and a lovely atmosphere, a change from the typical faux- Russian
cuisine with a neo-Soviet ear-splitting floor show that passes
for high-class dining in Tajikistan. Not only does its closure
eliminate the only restaurant a foreign businessman might feel
comfortable patronizing, the saga adds to the long list of
reasons for visiting foreign investors to exercise caution. The
closure of La Grande Dame is another sign that Tajikistan's
power figures just don't get what it will take to get lasting
investment in the economy. END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND