Mirziyoyev defines additional tasks for introduction of water-saving technologies

Shavkat Mirziyoyev urged to maintain 50 % reduced rate of water use for agricultural enterprises next year.  The video conference chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was on discussion of these and other problems, as well as issues on introduction of energy efficient technologies and the implementation of public-private partnership projects in the water industry.

Over the past two years, 11 government resolutions have been adopted in the water sector. However, the law execution leaves a lot to be desired. Thus, water-saving technologies have been used only on 285 thousand hectares, which is 7 percent of the country’s useful land. The President lambasted the work on water resources management in the Republic. It is planned to increase the area of land with water-saving technologies to 600 thousand hectares next year. Instructions were given on the allocation of the necessary funds from the state budget for these purposes, the provision of subsidies to cover part of the costs of entrepreneurs, as well as loans to farms and clusters through commercial banks with the involvement of funds from international financial institutions. The task was set to create enterprises for the production of water-saving technologies in the Samarkand, Tashkent and Namangan regions.

Thanks to a laser levelling of a field the agro-based clusters (AC) have managed to reduce water consumption by 20-25 percent, fertilizers - by 15 percent, and increase yields by at least 10 percent. The head of state emphasized the importance of widespread use of this experience in cotton, grain and rice fields. The Ministry of Finance was instructed to allocate at least 250 billion soums of loans from the Agricultural Development Fund for the introduction of this top notch technology.

This year, water facilities in Kuyichirchik, Narpaysky, Bulungursky, Sardobinsky, Nishansky, Kasby districts were transferred to entrepreneurs on the basis of a public-private partnership, a standard project is being implemented on them. This will allow modernizing facilities and significantly reduce operating costs. It was instructed to implement similar schemes in other regions.

Special attention at the meeting was paid to the development of science and education in the field of water management. It was noted that it is important to involve scientists in the construction and reconstruction of irrigation and reclamation facilities. They will participate in the entire process from the preparation of pre-project documentation for facilities to their commissioning, as well as provide scientific and technical support for construction. Integration of science and practice will allow for more thorough project development.