In view of the large expenses, the airbase command has rejected the plans to build a new cantonment on the 300 hectares of land leased from the Kyrgyz government in fall 2003. Instead, it will replace tents housing men by prefab houses, Johnson said. A canteen is going to be built.
The American military will continue with the lease of the 300 hectares. So far, no decision has yet been taken what to make of it and it is standing idle, Johnson said.
Now, the Manas airbase, created under the UN mandate as the base for the antiterrorist coalition to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, is housing about 1,000 American servicemen.
Initially, servicemen from nine countries - Italy, France, Australia etc. - of the coalition were located in Manas.
Russia also has an airbase near the city of Kant in Kyrgyzstan. It was opened by presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan in October 2003. The agreement to set it up in the place of a former Soviet military flying school was concluded during the visit to Moscow by the Kyrgyz president on September 22, 2003. Under this agreement, the Russian airbase has up to 500 servicemen, 10 to 15 Russian Su-27 and Su-25 warplanes, military transport planes and helicopters.
