Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- More than 340,000 people in Uzbekistan will benefit from a US$88 million IDA Credit, approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors on 1 March, to improve water supply operations in the Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan.

The credit forms the basis of the Syrdarya Water Supply Project which aims to improve the availability, quality and sustainability of public water supply services in selected six districts of the region. By the time the project is completed, it is hoped that the network of water supply service delivery in the region will have been improved, institutional capacity of the water suppliers strengthened and financial sustainability improved.

The Government of Uzbekistan (GOU) has assigned high priority to improving environmental and public health conditions associated with seriously deficient water supply services in the province of Syrdarya. The project covers nearly half of the total population of the Syrdarya region, which has a total population of about 700 000 people.

Currently the towns are supplied with treated water through regional transmission schemes or from around 250 individual wells which have now reached a state of acute disrepair causing a breakdown of water supply in many towns. It is estimated that 25% of the project towns receive no piped water and have to rely on water tankers. Out of those who have access to piped water, only about 10% receive 24-hour service; for all others service is unsafe and costly and consumers have to invest time and money in alternative supplies, including drawing raw water from irrigation canals.

“The Syrdarya Water Supply Project responds to the Government’s determination to upgrade access and quality of water supply and sanitation services in urban and rural areas” - says Takuya Kamata, World Bank’s Country Manager for Uzbekistan. “The project would finance a mix of rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure and replacement of obsolete systems that are beyond rehabilitation.”

There are four main components to the project:

• The first component will improve water supply infrastructure by financing rehabilitation and limited expansion of water supply systems, including production, conveyance and distribution works.
• The second component aims at institutional strengthening and capacity building of regional and district levels of water supplying organizations (vodokanals).
• The third component is the feasibility study for future investments and will finance consultant studies to identify sewerage investment needs in the Syrdarya Region. It is envisaged that the feasibility study will help financiers consider financing the wastewater infrastructure sector in the Syrdarya region.
• The fourth component is project management. This component will finance the strengthening of the Project Coordination Unit (PCU), including its branches in Syrdarya region.

Uzbekistan joined the World Bank in 1992. The World Bank’s mission in the country is to improve people’s livelihoods through being a partner in economic reforms, supporting the modernization of the country’s social sectors and infrastructure, and sharing its knowledge and experience with the government and the people of Uzbekistan.

Total World Bank commitments to Uzbekistan amount to US$950 million.