Tashkent residents are familiar with the beautiful building of unusual architecture featuring Eastern portal elements and decorative battlements, located opposite Central Park (formerly Telman Park). Currently, it houses the “Sen Yolgʻiz Emassan” (“You Are Not Alone”) foundation, established in 2002 by Lola Karimova-Tillayeva to assist children left without parental care.

Previously, it was home to SANIIRI — the Central Asian Scientific Research Institute of Irrigation. Given the importance of irrigation and water resource management in Uzbekistan, in 1925, the Experimental Research Hydrotechnical Institute was organized under the design of Professor V. D. Zhurin.

In 1932, it was renamed SANIIRI and became a center for research in hydrotechnics, land reclamation, operation of hydro-reclamation systems, and water management construction. On the vast territory next to the old zoo, hydraulic structures were built and tested — dams, sluices, flow regulators, flumes, aqueducts, and water tunnels. Today, this area is occupied by the Central Eco-Park.

SANIIRI relocated to a new site in the Karasu area, between the canal of the same name and the ring road. In 1987, based on the institute and its organizations, the SANIIRI Research and Production Association was created, which was integrated into the system of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan in 1992.