BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 3
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Thirty-one more new reservoirs will be built in Kazakhstan over the period from 2025 through 2030, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Magzum Mirzagaliyev said, Trend reports citing the press office of the government.
Mirzagaliyev said that the Ministry has developed a draft state program for water resources management. Now, the work is underway to transform this state program into a national project, which includes six main development directions.
Thus, the improvement of interstate water relations to strengthen water diplomacy, and digitalization, accounting and monitoring of water resources are overseen within the program. As a result, work will be carried out to digitize 119 canals, and an information system for determining the resources of river flow, etc., will be created.
The water saving aspect is also overseen within the program. As a result, the area of irrigated land using modern water-saving technologies will be increased from 221,000 hectares to 420,000 hectares.
The rehabilitation of irrigation systems and structures, construction of new reservoirs is also to be held within these plans.
“As a result, about 2,000 km of trunk canals will be reconstructed. In addition, 8 new reservoirs with a total volume of 885 million square meters will be built in Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Almaty and Kyzylorda regions. From 2025 to 2030, another 31 new reservoirs will be built,” Mirzagaliyev said.
Updating the legal framework is also overseen within these plans which will lead to the development of a new version of the Water Code.
The training of specialists in the water industry with modern skills and scientific support is also to be held. The national project Zhasyl Kazakhstan will consist of 7 main sections: improvement of water bodies, reduction of air pollution, waste management, conservation of biodiversity, greening the country, energy efficiency, eco-education and environmental awareness.
This will improve the situation in 10 cities with a high level of air pollution: Temirtau, Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Atyrau, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Karaganda, Balkhash, Zhezkazgan, Shymkent.
“In addition, we plan to achieve by 2025 a decrease in wastewater discharge, increase the share of waste recycling from the current 18 percent to 35 percent, and also reduce the energy intensity of the country's GDP. The work on the development and approval of two national projects will be completed by July 1, 2020,” the minister emphasized.
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