The President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed the presentation of proposals for water resources management and development of the irrigation sector Tuesday, the presidential press service said.
In particular, in 2020-2024, 60 trillion soums of budget funds and $ 622 million of foreign investment were contributed for the repair of irrigation networks and implementing of water-saving technologies.
If in 2020, the areas where water-saving technologies were used stood at only 4% of the total surface of irrigated lands, while by 2025 this figure reached 50%.
In continuation of these efforts, a program for water resources management and development of the irrigation sector for 2025-2028 was developed.
At the presentation, those in charge reported on the measures provided for in the program.
Priority in the program is given to the rational use of water resources. It is planned to reconstruct 2,551 km of irrigation networks. Replacing outdated pumping station equipment with more energy-efficient equipment will reduce their annual power consumption from 6.8 to 6.2 billion kilowatt-hours.
Measures are envisaged to reduce areas with low water supply from 424 thousand to 276 thousand hectares, as well as to improve the condition of lands with high salinity and close groundwater occurrence. Thanks to this, 460 thousand hectares of land will be returned to agricultural circulation.
Water-saving technologies will be implemented on 1.4 million hectares, including drip irrigation on 293 thousand hectares. Instrumentation and measuring equipment will be modernized at 20 large facilities.
To minimize the human factor in water metering, modern monitoring will be introduced at 12 thousand drainage wells and 1,750 pumps. Twelve large hydraulic structures will be transferred to automated control using digital technologies.
After the implementing the program, the ratio of canals with concrete coating will increase from the current 39% to 47%, the quality of irrigation networks will improve, and water losses will decrease. It is expected that due to savings, 10 billion cubic meters of water will be saved this year and up to 14 billion cubic meters by 2028.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev ok’d the proposals and approved the Uzbekistan’s Water Resources Management and Irrigation Sector Development Program 2028.
The presentation also provided information on improving the efficiency and digitalization of the sector, expanding the participation of the private sector.
Currently, automation of 18.7 thousand hydroposts of provinces, districts and farms has begun, the next stage is expected to be equipping water distribution points in the fields.
Digitalization of water management was also touched upon at the meeting. The President gave a directive to integrate 11 industry programs into a single platform, create an IT center and a situation center with the wide use of Uzbekcosmos capabilities.
He set the goal to equip 5,200 pumps with power and water meters, and transferring large pumps to renewable energy sources. The data obtained will be accumulated on a digital platform, where an analysis of the economic efficiency of water use will be carried out.
Currently, 2,612 water bodies have been handed over to private management, now the private sector will also be offered large pumping units with the creation of attractive conditions for investors, it was said at the meeting.
The President gave a directive to improve the regulatory framework in the sector, increase the efficiency of water use and strengthen the culture of careful treatment of water in society.
