DUSHANBE, October 13, 2010, Asia-Plus — Members of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) have endorsed the draft law on drinking water and drinking water supply.
A regular setting of the second session of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the fourth convocation, presided over by its first deputy chairman, Amirsho Miraliyev, was held on October 13.
Presenting the bill, Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources Rahmat Bobokalonov noted that the national program aimed at providing the population with safe drinking water have not received enough financial support this year due to the global financial and economic crisis.
Today some 47 percent of rural population has access to safe drinking water and some 20 percent of them use water-supply pipeline network.
“This ratio is very low, of course,” the minister stressed, adding that only 57 of 65 district administrative centers in the country have water-supply pipeline networks.
Speaking at the meeting, Amirsho Miraliyev noted that the number of people having no access to safe drinking water would halve by 2015. “For this, Tajikistan plans to mobilize some one billion U.S. dollars,” the deputy speaker said.
