Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has helped to improve Bishkek's water and sanitation services and plan for long-term sustainability.

"With a 5.5 million euros loan from the EBRD, co-financed with a 5 million euros grant by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the water supply and sanitation infrastructure is being restored for the first time in decades," the bank said on February 4.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan faced a rapid deterioration in public infrastructure. The rapid urbanization in the capital in recent years with increase of water consumption registered in the north and new settlements to be supplied in the south have put an additional strain on the already stretched capacity of the water mains.

The Bishkek Water Company manages assets including a 1,277 kilometer-long water supply pipe network and 605 km of wastewater. These are only part of the infrastructure that helps to provide clean water and sanitation services to over 1.5 million people living in Bishkek and its surroundings. The problem is that most of it is more than 30 years old.

EBRD said the water project benefited from extensive international donor support that provided a total of 1.4 million euros. Sweden provided funds for all the work needed to prepare a solid investment plan.

SECO funded engineering and implementation support while the Bank's Early Transition Countries Fund and the Shareholder Special Fund funded technical cooperation to increase the company's capacity and help them engage with the local community through public awareness campaigns on the ongoing works, the importance of saving water and paying for the service.

EBRD also noted said three old pipes that connect to the chlorination system have been replaced in Orto-Alysh.

"This new technology was identified thanks to a study funded by the EU Central Asia Investment Facility (IFCA). It will prevent water from freezing and damaging the infrastructure during the cold winter," the bank noted.

Also, 700 meters of new pipes have already been substituted and over 1,000 more will be in place before the end of the year. This work is being done while the water is still being pumped, with no interruption to the service. The loan was also used to purchase new equipment and vehicles for the repairs.

This was the first EBRD operation in the Kyrgyz municipal and environmental infrastructure sector. Since then the cooperation between Bishkek's city government and the bank has grown strong and the EBRD has extended loans and technical cooperation support to improve public transport and solid waste services in the capital.

Now households and industries have responded well: the collection rate in 2011 reached 98.6 per cent. The better the service, the more people are willing to pay for it.

Earlier EBRD said it will allocate a loan of up to 2 million euros, the EU's Investment Facility for Central Asia-1.85 million euros (this is the first allocation to Kyrgyzstan under the facility), and the World Bank Global Environmental Facility's Special Climate Change Fund-1.15 million euros to modernize Kyrgyzstan's Talas city's water and wastewater services.

The modernization of water and wastewater services in Kyrgyz cities is a priority for the EBRD, which has developed a dedicated financing facility for the purpose.

Currently, the EBRD has provided financing to six cities in the country to support critical investments in the water supply and waste water networks and is considering further expansion throughout the country to smaller cities.

The EBRD has invested over 450 million euros in more than 105 projects in Kyrgyzstan.