Biznes-Vestnik Vostoka
October 31

The Asian Development Bank will give Uzbekistan a 250,000-dollar grant for technical assistance in renewing the outdated irrigation system.

The aid, co-financed by a 580,000-dollar grant from the Italian government, is aimed at developing a project to improve the living conditions of thousands of rural residents.

The cost of the research will total 1.2m dollar, 830,000 of which is external financing and the rest will be financed by the government of Uzbekistan.

The target of the project is the Amu-Zang irrigation system in Surkhandarya Region, including three pumping stations lifting the Amu Darya waters.

Approximately 760,000 people live in seven areas serviced by the Amy-Zang irrigation system, 88 per cent of whom live in the countryside. The life of the population depends first of all on irrigated farming. The agricultural sector is facing falling efficiency, heavy economic losses and exhaustion of resources due the to slow process of reform, restrictions of the state budget, bad organization and poor state of the irrigation infrastructure.

Due to low levels of rainfall and the semi-dry climate, farming in Uzbekistan heavily depends on irrigation, covering 86 per cent of the country's 4.3m ha of agricultural land.

The implementation of the project will help the areas of priority for the stable management of water resources, the drawing up of an investment package for a possible ADB financing and an accord on liabilities of all parties concerned.

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