UZBEKISTAN: WATER PROJECTS
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN
COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2001. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.
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SUMMARY
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1. Uzbekistan and its neighboring countries
traditionally have limited water resources. Water usage over recent history was
focussed on harvesting a single crop, cotton, which dominates Uzbekistan's
agriculture sector. Irrational management of the irrigation systems resulted in
huge ecological problems, including the Aral Sea disaster. Therefore,
modernization and improvement of the water systems became a priority task for
the Uzbek government, and the subject of international financial support.
Several investment projects for the improvement of the water systems arena,
which are supported by International Financial Institutions (IFI) are now
available for new business opportunities for U. S. firms and organizations with
relevant experience. End summary.
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Introduction
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2. For many years a single crop – cotton -
dominated Uzbekistan's agriculture sector. An inefficient planning system
stimulated significant increase of the artificially irrigated areas for cotton,
and an inadequate increase of water consumption from the two main rivers in the
region – Amu Darya and Syr Darya compounded the environmental situation. In the
1960s, 56 cubic kilometers of water flowed through above-mentioned rivers into
the Aral Sea. In the 1990s, 50 cubic kilometers were used for irrigation of the
newly cultivated lands, and not a single gallon of water was returned to the
sea. There are 7,330,000 hectares of irrigated land area in the territory of
Central Asia, which require 115.5 cubic kilometers of water. The present volume
of the Aral Sea is 246 cu. km, so the irrigated areas alone can completely
consume the sea in two years' time.
3. According to the Uzbek officials, only 40
per cent of the water actually reach the crops. Approximately 40 per cent of the
water is lost in the irrigation systems and about 20 per cent evaporates during
the irrigation process. It is forecasted that water consumption will increase
within the next 20 years by approximately 40 percent, and an additional 17
percent more water will be required to produce sufficient quantities of food due
to the increasing population. Further, increased water consumption is estimated
for industry, where the growth figures will range from 20 to 50 per
cent.
4. Currently Amu Darya River flows at the 50
per cent level. Some of the surrounding Uzbekistan provinces receive less than
35 percent of average annual volume. This situation creates significant
difficulties for clean drinking water delivery to the population in those areas.
Over the past few years water has been delivered over long distances and daily
distribution norm were 12-15 liters per person. The sanitary-epidemiological
situation remains adverse. The quality of water in open reservoirs does not meet
the chemical and bacteriological standards. Only in last year, 11 "El-Tor"
cholera bacilli and 540 quasi-cholera bacilli were identified in the main
channels, which constitutes the main source of the drinking
water.
5. Another issue is the absence of a water
measuring systems. An official figure for daily per capita consumption of
drinking water in Tashkent is 530 liters, or almost twice the level in other
major cities of the world. This testifies primarily to the fact that there are
no measuring instruments, the water supply system is exhausted, and the rate
system in effect is flawed. As a result, a significant quantity of the clean
drinking water is lost or used for other purpose.
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List of the projects
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6. To improve the situation in the water
resources management sector, the government of Uzbekistan, international
organizations, firms and IFIs are developing and implementing a number of
projects. The main projects with their budgets and statuses are listed below.
6.1. Improvement of the water systems in
Samarkand city.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Housing and Municipal Services, the government of Samarkand
province.
Purpose of the Project: Equipment procurement
for the Samarkand waterworks.
Budget: USD $4.45
million.
Financing source: Loan provided by Natexis
Bank (France).
Status of the Project: Uzbek government on
June 17, 1999 approved this project. Procurement announcement will be published
in local press.
6.2. Installation of the Water Treatment Units
in Muynak town.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Housing and Municipal Services.
Purpose of the Project: Procurement of the
five fixed water treatment units for installation in this region, allocated by
the local authorities, and procurement of 2,500 units of portable tanks for
clean water delivery services.
Budget: USD $1 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by Natexis
Bank (France).
Status of the Project: Uzbek government on
June 17, 1999 approved the project. Procurement announcement will be published
in local and international press.
6.3. Modernization of the Southern
Golodnostepsky Channel.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Agriculture, Land improvement and Water Economy.
Purpose of the Project: Modernization of the
water regulation equipment for the water channels in the Golodnaya Step' desert
area, including installation of an up-to-dated water management unit.
Budget: USD $2.76
million.
Financing source: Loan provided by Natexis
Bank (France).
Status of the Project: Uzbek government on
June 17, 1999 approved the project. Procurement announcement will be published
in local press.
6.4. Clean water, sanitation and public
health.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of Macro
Economy and Statistics, Ministry of Housing and Municipal
Services.
Purpose of the Project: To provide safe
drinking water along with improved hygiene education and sanitation facilities
for the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm Province, reducing water-borne
diseases; and to strengthen the institutional capacity of the regional water
supply; sanitation utilities, and the regional health centers and sanitary
epidemiology stations.
Budget: USD $75 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the World
Bank.
Status of the Project: Uzbek government on
October 15, 1998 approved the project. Procurement announcement will be
published in Development Business.
6.5. Improvements of the water supply system
and sanitation in Bukhara and Samarkand.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of Macro
Economy and Statistics.
Purpose of the Project: Reconstruction and
development of the waterworks, installation of water measuring equipment.
Budget: USD $40 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the World
Bank.
Status of the Project: The project is awaiting
government approval.
6.6. Development of drainage systems in
Karakalpakstan, Kashkadarya and Bukhara provinces.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Agriculture, Land improvement and Water Economy.
Purpose of the Project: Development of a
drainage system improvement strategy for the Amudarya river site, construction
of the right-bank collector and elimination of the land salting and swamping
problems in the area.
Budget: USD $60 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the World
Bank.
Status of the Project: The project is at the
engineering development phase. Procurement announcement will be published in
Development Business.
6.7. A program for drinking water supplies to
the rural areas of Horezm province.
Local Implementation Agency: Obi-Hayot Agency.
Purpose of the Project: Supply of the high
quality drinking water to the population of Horezm province.
Budget: DM23 million or USD $12.12
million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the KWF
(Germany).
Status of the Project: The project is awaiting
government approval.
6.8. Development of irrigation and drainage
systems in Akaltyn district of Syrdarya province.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Agriculture, Land improvement and Water Economy.
Purpose of the Project: Improvement of the
irrigation and drainage systems in the area.
Budget: USD $22.5
million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the
ADB.
Status of the Project: The project is awaiting
approval.
6.9. Improvement of the water systems in Nukus
and Urgench cities.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of Macro
Economy and Statistics, Ministry of Housing and Municipal Services.
Purpose of the Project: Implementation of
various measures oriented for the improvement of water systems in urban and
rural areas of Karakalpakstan and Horezm provinces.
Budget: USD $20 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by Kuwait
Foundation of Arabic Development.
Status of the Project: The project is in the
implementation stage. Procurement announcement will be published in local and
international press.
6.10. Improvement of the Nukus City Sewer
Systems.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of Macro
Economy and Statistics, Ministry of Housing and Municipal Services.
Purpose of the Project: Improvement of the
Nukus City Sewer Systems.
Budget: USD $5 million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the Swiss
Ministry of Finance.
Status of the Project: The Agreement with
Swiss Confederation has been approved. The project is in the implementation
stage.
6.11. Reconstruction of the waste water
treatment facilities in Namangan City.
Local Implementation Agency: Namangan City
Department of Housing and Municipal Services.
Purpose of the Project: Capacity increase of
the water treatment facilities up to 210 thousand cubic meters and improvement
of ecological situation in the area.
Budget: USD $16 million.
Financing source: Has not been defined.
Status of the Project: The project is in the
Feasibility Study preparation stage.
6.12. Reconstruction of the rural
water-distribution networks in Horezm province.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry for
Foreign Economic Relations.
Purpose of the Project: Implementation of
various measures oriented on improvement of the water systems in urban and rural
areas of Horezm province.
Budget: USD $5.96
million.
Financing source: Loan provided by the KWF
(Germany).
Status of the Project: The project is in the
implementation stage.
6.13. Modernization and reconstruction of
machined irrigation systems.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Agriculture, Land improvement and Water Economy.
Purpose of the Project: Improvement of the
energy saving and water saving records.
Budget: USD $100
million.
Financing source: Partly from the loan
provided by the World Bank.
Status of the Project: The Implementation
Agency has developed a Terms of References. It is expected that the Agency will
announce a recruitment of an international-consulting firm.
6.14. Automation of the water consumption
controls in local irrigation networks.
Local Implementation Agency: Ministry of
Agriculture, Land improvement and Water Economy.
Purpose of the Project: Automation of the
water consumption controls in the local irrigation networks.
Budget: USD $703.3
thousand.
Financing source: The loan provided by the
World Bank.
Status of the Project: The project has been
complete.
For more information on above projects please
contact the Commercial Service in Tashkent using the contact information
below:
Ms. Tyrena Holley, Senior Commercial
Officer
Mr. Jahongir Mavlany, Commercial
Assistant
The U.S. Foreign Commercial
Service
41, Buyuk Turon Street
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
700000
Tel: (998-71)
120-67-05/06
Fax: (998-71) 120-66-92
This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS)