Ensuring the financial stability of water supply enterprises was the central focus of a presentation made to the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Monday, the presidential press service reported.
During the meeting, officials noted that the sector's investment appeal has been declining. This is primarily because current utility tariffs do not fully cover the actual cost of operations, coupled with sharp pricing discrepancies between different provinces.
To address these inefficiencies, a proposal was put forward to unbundle water operations by separating production from consumer distribution. Under this new model, a dedicated trunk water supply enterprise will be established to deliver drinking water to regional distributors at a uniform wholesale rate.
Additionally, a new Interdepartmental Tariff Commission will be created to set drinking water and sewage rates using transparent, economically sound criteria. As part of these reforms, a standardized tariff for government-funded organizations is scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2027.
Projections show that driven by population growth and economic expansion, Uzbekistan's annual drinking water consumption will surge by an additional 230 million cubic meters by 2030, building on the current baseline of 941 million cubic meters. The presentation underscored that meeting this demand will require rigorous resource accounting and aggressive waste reduction strategies.
To this end, the President directed officials to fully transition all consumer billing and settlements to online platforms. He also mandated that all water users in cities and district centers be equipped with modern smart meters capable of remote data transmission.
The government has also set a target to slash water distribution losses from 35% down to 25%. This will be achieved by mapping out a digital blueprint of all water facilities and supply networks, alongside the widespread deployment of SCADA, GIS, telemetry technologies, and a unified billing platform.
Additionally, several initiatives were presented that leverage artificial intelligence to analyze pump performance, detect pipeline failures and leaks before they escalate, forecast consumption trends, and streamline the resolution of citizen complaints.
To modernize workforce development in the sector, a proposal was made to establish a dedicated faculty at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers. Furthermore, provincial technical colleges will launch dual-education vocational programs specializing in drinking water supply and sanitation systems.
According to the data presented, investments flowing into the industry have surged tenfold since 2017, reaching $2.7 billion. This funding boost has elevated central drinking water coverage from 63% to nearly 83%.
Over this period, 7.7 million people gained access to centralized running water for the very first time, water supply reliability was upgraded for another 11 million people, and an additional 1.1 million residents were hooked up to public sewer systems. Infrastructure efforts included building or rehabilitating 39,000 kilometers of water mains and 3,200 kilometers of sewer networks, alongside constructing or upgrading 3,400 water facilities and 295 sewage treatment plants and pumping stations.
Looking ahead, the administration aims to push centralized drinking water coverage to 90%, while scaling urban sewage service coverage to 80%. Securing these targets will require mobilizing an estimated $1.3 billion in additional capital investments.
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