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Netherlands to Help Develop Kazakhstan’s Water Sector

On May 29, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the construction and use of water facilities, flood forecasting and flood control planning. The agreement will draw on an exchange of experience in the regulation and use of flood waters, as well as a study of Dutch river flow management. A further memorandum was signed with the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education to provide training of specialists and interaction with science and innovative technologies in the water industry. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan Nurzhan Nurzhigitov welcomed the two countries’ formal agreement to further cooperation and expressed confidence that it would help implement large-scale projects, and through the exchange of experience and technology, unlock the potential of the domestic water sector.    

Kazakhstan’s Reservoirs Brimming with 12 billion Cubic Meters of Water

As a result of unprecedented high levels of rainfall this spring, over 12 billion cubic meters of water has collected in Kazakhstan’s reservoirs, 2.5-fold more than last year. In an announcement on 28 May, Minister of Water Resources, and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov said that water accumulated through channelling flood water to estuaries, lakes and reservoirs which have experienced water shortages in previous years, will greatly benefit irrigation, and in turn, the economy. Looking ahead, Nurzhigitov stated that the ministry is to develop a long-term strategy for flood water management and reducing the consequences of droughts. Plans include the development of an electronic map of the movement of flood waters to indicate populated areas most at risk, and a unified system for accounting, monitoring, and forecasting water resources. The announcement follows a previous report that since the beginning of the year, the water level in Kazakhstan’s largest lake, Balkhash, fed by the transboundary Ili River that originates in China, has risen by 23 cm.  

Turkish Company to Manufacture Irrigation Systems in Kazakhstan

Akplas, a leading Turkish manufacturer, has announced plans to produce modern irrigation systems for agriculture in Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda region. According to a report issued by Kazakh Invest, agreement on the project was reached during the Turkish company’s visit to Kazakhstan on 11 May. During their meeting, organized with assistance from Kazakh Invest, representatives of Akplas discussed the implementation of the project with Kyzylorda’s executive bodies and inspected the site earmarked for the build of the factory. Expected to be commissioned in early 2025, the first stage of the project will cost around $10 million, followed by a further investment of some $50 million. The facility will initially manufacture sprinkler irrigation systems to serve 80 thousand hectares per year and within five years, increase its production capacity for the irrigation of 400 thousand hectares.    

Kazakhstan Forwards Water-Saving Technology

On May 6, the Kazakh Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation reported on measures being taken to encourage farmers to save and use water more efficiently. The move addresses Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s earlier criticism about the process of introducing water-saving technologies being “extremely slow,” with agricultural sectors in some regions, experiencing annual losses of water of 40%. According to plans set in motion by the ministry, by 2030, the installation of water-saving technologies will provide an annual saving of up to 2.1 cubic kilometres of water on 50% of the country’s irrigated land To date, subsidies for drilling irrigation wells have been increased to 80% of their costs, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, work is progressing to increase subsidies for the installation of water-saving systems from 50% to 80% of their costs. In adherence to the new Water Code, the state will provide subsidies and reduced tariffs for water supply depending on the extent to which water-saving technologies are used. Tariffs for irrigation water are set to be calculated according to the types of crops grown and the volume of water required for their production. The ministry is also working to digitalize 3,500 km of irrigation canals in the Almaty, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, and Turkestan regions in the south of the country, which will improve water metering on 362 thousand hectares of irrigated land and enable a saving up to 600 million cubic meters of water annually.    

Tajikistan Faces Acute Shortage of Human Capital in Field of Land Reclamation and Irrigation

In Tajikistan, specialists are leaving the important sphere of land reclamation and irrigation due to low salaries. In the last five months alone, 1,000 employees of the Land Reclamation and Irrigation Department (LRID) in Sughd Province have quit their jobs. That could mean trouble for the agricultural sector sooner rather than later. As Asia-Plus reports, subordinate enterprises under the Land Reclamation and Irrigation Agency are among the main debtors to the tax authorities. Their debt at the beginning of the year is 83.8 million somoni ($7.7 million) - and more than 80 million also belongs to the energy sector. For the first quarter of 2024, the Agency's wage arrears amounted to about 1.7 million somoni. "This is primarily due to the fact that water users do not pay or delay payment for reclamation services. Today, the debt of water users amounts to 95.6 million somoni," according to the Soghd regional leadership. More than 5,600 people work in Tajikistan's land reclamation and irrigation sector. The average salary of employees is about 850 somoni per month ($78), and in the regions that salary hasn't been paid for months. Only during the irrigation season can employees of local water management organizations go to the fields and collect money for irrigation services rendered. Those proceeds often pay rank-and-file workers' salaries. In order to pay their employees, managers of local water management organizations let them use equipment (excavators, tractors, trailers, etc.) that's available in order to make money. There are 779 units of machinery of different brands on the balance sheet of the subordinate enterprises of the Agency, 350 of which are so outdated they are no longer suitable for use. The sad state of affairs in the Land Reclamation and Irrigation Agency and its subordinate organizations has become a key reason for the mass departure of employees As a consequence, the Agency is facing a crippling staff shortage, with some water pumping stations employing 5-6 people instead of the 18 needed. The department plans to increase salaries for its specialists - especially young personnel - at the expense of payments for water supply. However, most water consumers are also unable to pay for irrigation, thereby threatening the wage increases before they even begin - meaning both problems may yet persist in tandem.

Twenty New Reservoirs for Kazakhstan

The Kazakh Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has announced plans to build 20 new reservoirs with a capacity of 2.5 billion cubic meters by 2030. During the first stage, ten  reservoirs will  be constructed in the regions of Akmola, West Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda and Zhetisu, and in the south, two more reservoirs will complement that of Kensai-Koskorgan-2 , already in operation in the Turkestan region. The installation of eight new reservoirs will then follow elsewhere. Once completed, the project will reduce the country's dependence on water flowing from upstream Kyrgyzstan and China by 25%, help combat drought in southern Kazakhstan and conversely, reduce the threat of flooding in 70 rural settlements with a total population of 137 thousand people. In addition, irrigation will be provided for  a further  250 thousand hectares of farmland. Plans are also in place to reconstruct 15 existing reservoirs with a total capacity of 1.9 billion cubic meters, with work on six reservoirs in Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, Kostanay, Turkestan regions and the city of Astana, scheduled to start this year.