The Asian Development Bank will allocate $150 million for the management of water resources in the Aral Sea basin. The president of Uzbekistan signed a decree on measures to implement this project on September 27, Ferghana reported.
Uzbekistan signed an agreement with the ADB in June this year. The total cost of the project is $194.9 million. This amount includes the contribution of Uzbekistan – in the equivalent of $40.2 million, of which $26.6 million is in the form of VAT refunds and exemptions from customs duties at the expense of the republican budget. The remaining amount is distributed among the Asian Development Fund ($3 million), the ADB High Technology Fund ($0.3 million) and farms (their share will be $1.38 million).
The project will be implemented in Karakalpakstan, Bukhara, Surkhandarya and Khorezm regions during seven years – from 2022 to 2029. The ADB loan is allocated for a period of 25 years, including a five-year grace period.
The Ministry of Water Resources of Uzbekistan is responsible for the implementation of the project. The functions of project management and coordination are assigned to the Center for the implementation of foreign investment projects in the water sector under the Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Aral Sea is a former drainless salt lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s, the sea level began to decline rapidly, including due to the withdrawal of water from the main feeding rivers – the Amudarya and Syrdarya – for irrigation. In 1989, the sea broke up into two isolated reservoirs – the North (Small) and South (Big) Aral Sea.
inozPRESS.kg,
Sept. 29, 2022