Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 25
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
In the socio-economic strategy of Turkmenistan, special importance is attached to the rational use of water resources, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at a government meeting, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmenistan State News Agency.
Large-scale investment projects are being implemented in this area, including those aimed at increasing the carrying capacity of the Karakum river, providing cities and villages of Turkmenistan with clean drinking water.
Complexes of modern water treatment facilities are being built in the suburbs of Ashgabat and the regions, new reservoirs are being erected and the existing ones are being expanded, other hydrotechnical facilities are being built.
Issues of land reclamation are being addressed. Construction of an artificial lake “Altyn Asyr” in the Karakum desert to collect drainage water from irrigated lands of all regions of the country is one of the examples. This unique project is of exceptional importance for the whole Central Asia, the Turkmen president said.
In general, all this contributes to the increase in the production of grain, cotton and other agricultural products and, accordingly, to ensure food abundance, expanding the export opportunities of the agricultural sector.
Ashgabat previously made a number of specific initiatives in this area. They include proposals to open in the Turkmen capital a regional center on technologies in Central Asia related to climate change, as well as to develop a special UN program to save the Aral Sea and the UN Water Strategy.
Water issues are a priority vector of interaction between Turkmenistan and neighboring countries in the region and international organizations within the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), the report said.
Turkmenistan borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Afghanistan and uses water resources coming in accordance with agreed quotas from four trans-boundary rivers, namely, Amu Darya, Tejen, Atrek and Murgab.