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Priority tasks have been identified to improve drinking water supply and sanitation services
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed the presentation on measures to further improve drinking water supply and sewerage services.
In recent years, the volume of investments attracted to the industry has increased 10 times and reached $2.7 billion. As a result, the level of population coverage with centralized drinking water supply increased from 63 percent in 2017 to almost 83 percent.
During this period, 7.7 million people were provided with centralized drinking water supply for the first time, water supply was improved for 11 million residents, and another 1.1 million people were connected to the sewerage system. 39 thousand kilometers of drinking water supply networks and 3.2 thousand kilometers of sewage systems were built and reconstructed. 3.4 thousand drinking water supply facilities, 295 sewerage structures and pumping stations were built or modernized.
For the coming years, the goal is to increase the coverage of drinking water supply to 90 percent, and sewerage services in cities to 80 percent. For this purpose, it is planned to attract additional investments in the amount of $1.3 billion.
Along with the achieved results, the head of our state pointed out that the system for the formation and implementation of projects, as well as the timely identification and elimination of existing problems, has not yet reached the required level.
In particular, 107 billion soums have only recently been allocated to eliminate problems in the sewerage system of the city of Andijan. Work has begun on installing modern filters to prevent the spread of unpleasant odors in the Sergeli region.
As part of the project to provide the population of the Surkhandarya region with drinking water from the Tupalang reservoir, a water pipeline was laid to the city of Termez. By the end of the year, it is planned to provide water supply to Sherabad, Muzrabad, Angora and Jarkurgan districts.
The presentation identified specific tasks aimed at solving the most pressing problems on the ground. In particular, the need to provide centralized water supply to 513 mahallas and improve the quality of water supply in another 3 thousand mahallas was emphasized.
Special attention is paid to the complete completion of work on supplying drinking water directly to households. For this purpose, instead of 232 thousand water intakes, it is planned to lay water supply networks directly to residential buildings.
By the end of the year, projects worth a total of $600 million will be implemented. They provide for the construction of 1.6 thousand kilometers of water supply and 387 kilometers of sewerage networks, as well as 80 water supply facilities and 29 sewerage facilities.
As a result, 310 thousand residents of 107 mahallas will have access to centralized drinking water supply for the first time, and water supply will improve for 2.5 million people living in 453 mahallas.
The task has been set to speed up the implementation of the project to supply drinking water from the Gissarak reservoir in the Kashkadarya region. This $217 million project will improve drinking water supply for 1.1 million residents of the Kamashi, Guzar and Karshi districts, as well as the city of Karshi.
Responsible persons were instructed to complete the feasibility study of the project as soon as possible and determine the source of its financing.
In addition, tasks were identified for signing loan and grant agreements in the field of development of drinking water supply and sewerage systems in the Fergana, Surkhandarya and Jizzakh regions, and making a final conclusion on the project for the construction of a new sewerage facility in the capital.
The need was noted to complete negotiations with foreign partners on six projects worth a total of $317 million by September 1 and to determine sources of their financing.
Issues of ensuring the financial stability of water supply enterprises were also discussed. It is indicated that due to incomplete coverage of the actual cost of services by current tariffs and the presence of large differences between regions, the investment attractiveness of the sector is reduced.
In this regard, it was proposed to separate the functions of producing and supplying drinking water to consumers, as well as to create a main water supply enterprise. It will supply drinking water to regional enterprises at a single wholesale tariff.
The tasks have been set to create an Interdepartmental Tariff Commission to set tariffs for drinking water supply and sewerage services based on transparent and economically feasible criteria, as well as to introduce a single tariff for budgetary organizations from April 1, 2027.
According to forecasts, by 2030, as a result of demographic and economic growth, drinking water consumption in our country will increase by another 230 million cubic meters in addition to the current 941 million cubic meters. This requires ensuring accurate accounting of water resources and reducing water losses.
In this regard, tasks have been set to completely transfer payments to consumers online, equip all consumers in cities and regional centers with modern water meters with a remote data transfer function.
The goal has been set to reduce water losses from 35 to 25 percent through the creation of a digital map of structures and water supply networks, as well as the widespread introduction of SCADA, GIS, telemetry and a unified billing system into the management system.
Projects are also presented that are designed to use artificial intelligence to analyze the operation of pumping equipment, identify accidents and water leaks in advance, predict consumption volumes, as well as promptly consider citizen requests.
In order to improve the personnel training system, the proposal to open a separate faculty at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers was supported. In addition, the task has been set to organize dual education in the areas of drinking water supply and sewerage on the basis of technical schools in the regions.
At the end of the presentation, the President of our country gave specific instructions to those responsible for the timely and high-quality implementation of projects, expanding the coverage of services, ensuring the financial sustainability of enterprises, digitalizing the industry and increasing convenience for the population.
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