MILAN, Italy, May 7. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expected to approve Ayakchi Dam project in Uzbekistan next year, Yasmin Siddiqi, Director for Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development in Central and West Asia at the Asian Development Bank, said during a briefing held as part of the 58th ADB Annual Meeting, Trend’s special correspondent reports from Milan.
“ADB and Uzbekistan have a long history of working in water
resources and agriculture. Last Monday, I was in Tashkent, meeting
with the Ministry of Water Resources to discuss the Glaciers to
Farms program. We're very pleased to say that, overall, the
government agencies have been extremely proactive and interested.
They are extremely aware of the challenges they're facing due to
glacial melt and the implications,”
she said.
Siddiqi noted that Uzbekistan already faces high levels of water scarcity and also land degradation, saline soils, and saline water.
“Yet, a large part of the population is reliant on agriculture and, of course, the country's economy, particularly on the cultivation of cotton and other key crops. In the case of Uzbekistan, we've worked with the Ministry of Water Resources and also the Ministry of Environment and Ecology, and also with the drinking water agencies, to come up with a potential projects pipeline,” she said.
Siddiqi noted that the government of Uzbekistan has identified for ADB suitable initiatives and investments that they would like to get support from ADB and the Green Climate Fund under this Glaciers to Farms initiative.
“And I can just share one example of a project that ADB will be supporting. We expect this to be approved by ADB's board next year. And this is on the Ayakchi Dam. And it's looking again at managing water resources, because what we want to avoid is water just flooding through a river and being wasted.
And in this case, in this project, we're looking to do some possible innovative approaches to power generation, such as floating solar. So, our aim, where possible, is to bring technologies and innovations to the client, to the government. Also look at installing early warning systems on the Amudaria River, because it's really important that the government has data available,” she explained.