Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Nov. 26 / Trend D. Azizzov /
The Uzbek Agriculture and Water Resources Ministry will launch operations to restore irrigation and drainage systems in the Jizzakh and Syrdarya regions worth $94.33 million in the first quarter of 2010.
The project will be implemented under a state program adopted in Uzbekistan to improve irrigated lands for 2008-2012. The program is implemented with the assistance of international financial institutions.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) approved a loan for this project amounting to $52.65 million in late 2008. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has provided a loan worth $15.62 million for the project over 21 years, including a six-year grace period.
A loan agreement has also been signed with the OPEC Fund for International Development for a loan worth $12.72 million over 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
The share of Uzbek participation in the project is equivalent to $13.34 million.
The project will be implemented over four years until 2014.
Plans include irrigating 350,000 hectares of land to construct and reconstruct the main, inter-regional and inter-farm collectors with a total length of over 3,500 kilometers and over 1,000 irrigation wells and restore the drainage system with a length of 7,600 kilometers within the state program. More than two million hectares of irrigated lands are overly salty.
The Uzbek government plans to draw foreign investments amounting to $1.177 billion to implement 25 projects in irrigating lands, reconstructing and constructing irrigation infrastructure, as well as hydro-electric engineering worth about $2.2 billion by late 2010.
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