DUSHANBE, October 23, 2008, Asia-Plus — After being closed for 15 years, the pump station Karatag-2, irrigating more than 400 hectares of lands in the Shahrinav district, has been reintroduced into operation, Deputy water Resources and Land Reclamation Minister, Kamol Nouraliyev, remake data press service in Dushanbe on October 22.
According to him, certain work has been carried out over the first nine months of this year to ensure rational use of water resources in the country. Over the report period, more than 4 million somoni worth of reclamation works have been carried out in the country.
More than 47.915 cubic meters of water have been distributed to farming units over the same nine-month period, the deputy minister said. He added that the low rate of collection of funds from water consumers evokes concern. “All categories of farms now owe 133.84 million somoni to the Ministry of Water Resource and Land Reclamation (WRLR),” Nouraliyev said.
He also noted that the ministry now implemented five investment projects for a total amount of US$120.026 million in the country. “Of this amount, the ministry has spent US$56 million so far,” the deputy minister said, noting that the largest is the project for irrigation of Danghara steppe in the Khatlon province.
The estimate budget for implementation of this project, funded by the Kuwaiti Development Fund and the Asian Development Bank, is more than US$13 million.
