BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 7
By Nargiz Sadikhova – Trend:
A number of projects worth 274 billion tenge (624.1 million), combined in four blocks, are being implemented in Kazakhstan to increase and restore water supply to 492,000 hectares of irrigated land in Kazakhstan’s Almaty, Zhambyl, Turkistan, Kyzylorda and Aktobe regions, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Geology, Ecology and Natural Resources Magzum Mirzagaliyev said, Trend reports with reference to the press office of country’s prime minister.
Mirzagaliyev said that 6,785 kilometers of canals, 4 reservoirs, 4 hydroelectric facilities, 239 vertical drainage wells and about 23,000 other water facilities will be reconstructed in time till 2022.
“The introduction of restored irrigated land into circulation will allow to create 77,000 permanent jobs in the countryside. The gross agricultural output on these lands will be 165 billion tenge ($375.8 million) per year. This increase will create a further multiplier effect in the areas of trade, product processing, and animal husbandry,” Mirzagaliyev said.
Thus, by attracting a World Bank loan an infrastructure of 105,000 hectares will be restored for irrigation in Almaty, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda and Turkistan regions, by the end of 2021. This includes 2,500 kilometers of canals, more than 2,000 kilometers of collector-drainage network, 221 vertical drainage wells and about 20,000 other water facilities.
He added that by implementing these projects the annual volume of agricultural production will be 60 billion tenge ($136.6 million).
Loans from the European and Islamic Banks for Reconstruction and Development will allow to increase and restore water supply on 128,000 hectares of land in Aktobe, Zhambyl, Turkistan and Almaty regions over the period from 2020 to 2021. Within these projects, 47 pumping stations and 91 kilometers of pipelines will be built, 3,000 kilometers of canals and 302 drainage wells will be restored.
The volume of agricultural products grown on these lands will be 105 billion tenge (239.1 million) annually.
Within the framework of the Employment Roadmap and budget programs for 2020-2021, some 21 projects are to be implemented to increase the water supply of 260,000 hectares of irrigated land in Almaty, Zhambyl, Turkistan and Kyzylorda regions. The minister said that four reservoirs, four hydroelectric facilities, 18 vertical drainage wells and 487 kilometers of irrigation canals will be reconstructed within the roadmap and the programs.
In total, Mirzagaliyev said, by 2030 some 28 reservoirs in Akmola, Aktobe, Karaganda, Zhambyl, Turkistan, Kyzylorda, East Kazakhstan and West Kazakhstan regions with a total volume of water storage of 3.8 cubic km by 2030. Some 470,000 hectares of irrigated land will be connected to these reservoirs.
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