MILAN, Italy, May 5. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to help Uzbekistan in improving energy production efficiency, Kanokpan Lao-Araya, Country Director of the ADB for Uzbekistan, told reporters on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting in Milan, Italy, Trend reports.
“Talking about the rise in tariffs for gas and electricity in Uzbekistan, the increase of tariff rates depends on the sustainability of production of energy. I believe that there is a problem with leakages. On ADB side, we would help the government in terms of improving the efficiency of production, reduce the leakages, so that would reduce the burden to the consumer,” she said.
Lao-Araya noted that right now the reason why the tariff rate has to be increased, because the cost of production is higher than the tariff rate, so it has to be corrected.
“Because if not, then the ministry of finance or the government budget have to subsidize the cost of production. It is good, but it is not sustainable. We can help the government through our grant technical assistance to support, involve or use new technologies and find out ways to reduce leakages. But at the same time, I think the citizens of Uzbekistan also have to understand that the tariff increase also has to match with the cost of the production,” she said.
The country director went on to add that over the next three years, and even beyond that, ADB will continue support the government of Uzbekistan to invest in renewable energy.
“And this includes wind and solar, renewable energy. This year, in 2025, we will invest in Samarkand wind project and also Guzar Solar PV project. Then we have Kungrad wind project for the next year. So there are a lot of opportunities for ADB to collaborate with the government in this sector,” she added.