Red-faced officials in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent are investigating how the retaining wall of an overpass built just two years ago suddenly collapsed, with the debris smashing into a highway below.

Fortunately, for all concerned, no cars were on the road section at the time and there were no casualties – road inspectors noticed the displacement of the retaining wall several hours before the collapse and were able to close part of the road, located near the intersection of Temur Malik and Buyuk Ipak Yuli streets, ahead of the incident.

The wall was supposedly built to last at least a century, according to engineers, as cited by Azattyk.

The new overpass, located on the site of the former Trinity Bridge, was opened in August 2024, with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev himself inspecting the structure.

The Tashkent city government said heavy rainfall might have been a key cause of the wall collapse, with increased soil moisture adding to the load on the structure.

Social media was abuzz with posts speculating on whether serious design and construction errors were made in building the overpass, while some observers warned that in infrastructure projects, contractors can seek to skim extra profit by using cheap materials and sub-contractors. There is no presented evidence that that was the case with this incident, but the warning is sound all the same.

Social media sites also carried comments from people claiming to know of other anxiety-inducing cracks seen in roads, walls and buildings across Tashkent.

There is also the case of the Sardoba Reservoir to remember.

The reservoir was built near the border with Kazakhstan from 2009 to 2017. In May, 2020, its dam burst, flooding large areas of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Official data show 2,570 houses and 76 apartment buildings were destroyed in Uzbekistan’s Syrdarya region. Across the border, 7,000 hectares of farmland were washed away. Approximately 300 head of livestock perished.

A commissioned expert report said that the Sardoba Reservoir dam failure was caused by errors and shortcomings in the design documentation, construction and operation.

Reservoir construction experts suggested the incident resulted from widespread corruption, with theft of concrete and other construction materials.

Independent journalist Bakhodur Khasanov told Azattyk: “Back then [with the reservoir failure, officials claimed] fish were to blame, badgers of some sort, they blamed the animals, the soil was weak [and so on].

“There's no [proper] oversight [of construction projects in Uzbekistan], no one is overseeing them… Someone is turning a blind eye to all this, right?"