In Kyrgyzstan, nearly 65 per cent of villages are undersupplied with clean drinking water. Authorities are determined to solve the problem by 2026, which is taken sceptically by people as this is not their first promise. Moreover, one third of the amount required to implement the programme still needs to be raised.
When waiting time is too long
The village of Ak-Suu of Leilek district of Batken region has never had a water pipeline. All the residents, nearly 10 thousand, have always brought water for their needs from rivers and irrigation ditches. “It was quite troublesome and dangerous because water in the river contained sand in spring, and turned into ice in winter,” resident Makhabat Berdikulova said.
Without assistance from the government, residents of Ak-Suu decided to solve the drinking water problem on their own. They built a water intake in 2023 and laid pipelines by ashar method (joint solution of the common problem – author’s note).
“Every citizen helped – some with money, others with their equipment, labour, some fed the workers. I delivered concrete on my truck from the district centre. And now people can enjoy clean water here,” said villager Abdyrakhman Niyazov.
The local budget allocated 1,7 million Kyrgyz som (19 thousand dollars) for construction of the water pipeline, and contribution of residents was estimated at 4 million Kyrgyz som (45 thousand dollars). As a result, according to Rustambek Kudayarov, head of the Ak-Suu village administration, the drinking water issue was solved by 90 per cent.
There are dozens of such villages that have been proactive. This is proven by publications in the media. The State Agency for Architecture, Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure failed to provide information on how many villages (aiyl) across the country could solve the drinking water issue on their own. So, it remains to be seen how well residents could solve the issue and how long it will last.
“People often try to solve the issue by themselves via investors or fundraising because the waiting time for the state programme is too long. But it is also a problem as private contractors can do their job poorly, and we have had such cases. And the state does not regulate such conflicts,” said Aizirek Almazbekova, representative of ‘Ashar’ project.
‘Ashar’ is the KLOOP project, which serves to help Kyrgyzstanis solve public issues. One of directions was no access to drinking water. Nearly 40 people from all regions have turned to the project within a short time. According to Almazbekova, there were two categories of problems: first one – absence of water supply system, second one – water supply system was broken, troubles with water supply, or the source ran out of water.
“Almost all villages with no water access have already been registered with the state water supply programme. But the problem is the underfunding and villages can wait for decades to get water pipeline. The fact that you are on the state programme does not promise that you will have water access. We have had cases when the water pipe was installed, but then it either broke down, or the water source ran out of water,” Aizirek Almazbekova said.
Government has no accurate data
The current state programme for development of drinking water and water discharge systems was adopted in 2020. Its main purpose is to build the centralised drinking water system for 95 per cent of urban population and 2 million rural citizens by 2026. But what does the country have now, on the threshold of 2024?
There are no complete and accurate data, the figures provided by responsible bodies and documents vary. For example, the National Statistical Committee writes that 95 per cent of population have sustainable access to safe drinking water sources.
But, according to the State Agency for Architecture, Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure (Gosstroi), every fifth village has no water supply system at all, i.e. 363 out of 1,903. According to them, hundreds of villages have worn out pipelines, which need to be restored, but they failed to provide precise information.
According to the state programme, the picture is quite different: the total number of villages here is 1,819, and 65 per cent of them are either in need of new infrastructure or need to have the old system restored.
According to the Gosstroi, they are now working to improve the database of the drinking water and water discharge sector. They introduce the new information system of data collection ‘SIASAR’ offered by the World Bank. It contains information about all villages that need to be supplied with drinking water. Currently, this information is available on the server of the Community Development and Investment Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic. Once all works are completed, the ‘SIASAR’ system will be handed over to Gosstroi.
Ambitious and scandalous ‘Taza Suu’
The problem of access to clean drinking water can set Kyrgyzstan with plenty of mountain rivers, lakes and glaciers wondering. The point is that the drinking water supply system was built before 1990 in the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the local water infrastructure has been abandoned for over 10 years, which has led to severe deterioration of its technical state and total breakdown.
Only in the 2000s, authorities have started to work on the issue by launching a scale project ‘Taza Suu’. With the financial support of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank (total amount 69.5 million dollars), water pipelines were built and restored in 545 villages in 2001 to 2013. However, some things have gone wrong, the project had a scandalous twist as corruption schemes were detected, and construction works and the equipment supplied failed to meet the requirements. According to the report by the Ombudsman Institute, 26 lawsuits have been initiated on the fact of inappropriate use of funds. The Asian Development Bank reduced the project scope first, and then froze the funds.
Moreover, the state policy in water supply has never been coherent and efficient. ‘Taza Suu’ has been handed over from one agency to another, and changed five implementing agencies. In 2012, the project was handed over to ARIS (Community Development and Investment Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic). However, 20 odd years after the programme commencement, management is still poor.
According to Mars Naspekov, executive director of ARIS, the State Agency for Architecture, Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure is currently responsible for the national water supply policy, while ARIS is the implementing agency responsible for construction of infrastructure in rural areas, and mayor’s offices are responsible for the same in cities. According to member of Zhogorku Kenesh Iskhak Masaliev, the duties and responsibilities are not clearly assigned between these two authorities, while this is the first thing to do before starting the work.
“When analysing the problem, we have found out that national strategies have merely copied the previous ones, and the water supply department always gets under control of different authorities. There have also been so many corruption scandals related to this subject, e.g. ‘Taza Suu’. We could not obtain all related documents from the water supply department and ARIS. We have tried to find out who installs water pipes and the price of it, but we have failed. We believe the department has no such data, while ARIS did not have to answer because it is not a government agency,” Aizirek Almazbekova, representative of ‘Ashar’ project, said.
New programme, old goals
Almost a quarter of a century has passed amid corruption scandals and promises, there have been millions in grants and loans from donors, but residents of the Central Asian state richest in water resources still struggle for the fundamental right to safe drinking water. According to the State Agency for Architecture, Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure, water pipeline systems had been built and restored in 545 villages in 2001 to 2013, and nearly 1 million people had received access to centralised drinking water system. In 2014 to 2022, drinking water supply systems had been built in 244 villages, which provided access to safe drinking water to 684 thousand people. In 2023, the relevant infrastructure construction was completed in 50 villages.
“Moreover, local budgets and various development foundations have funded restoration of water supply systems in 40 villages,” according to Gosstroi.
According to their estimates, implementation of the current programme requires 70.21 billion Kyrgyz som (78.6 million dollars), including 68 billion 215 million Kyrgyz som (76.4 million dollars) in foreign investments, 2 billion Kyrgyz som (22.4 million dollars) from the republican budget. Currently, investments have been attracted in the amount of 524.9 million dollars, or almost 47 billion Kyrgyz som at the current exchange rate. So, nearly 23 billion Kyrgyz som (about 257.5 million dollars) need to be raised now.
During the project implementation, the government has to tighten control over the intended expenditure of funds and upon acceptance of works, according to the Ombudsman Institute. The civil society needs to be involved into the local process of control over expenditure of funds intended for water supply.
It is important not only to build, but also to maintain
Maintenance of commissioned drinking water supply systems is one of major problems, according to the programme. It is the task of rural water users association (WUA). But their number decreases every year. According to Gosstroi, only 68 per cent of 525 WUAs are operating and can resource themselves, the rest are going through financial hardships.
“We are initiating establishment of state enterprise ‘Kyrgyz Suu’ with its regional offices for repair (service) of drinking water supply and discharge systems. They should have local specialists and necessary equipment. Gosstroi considers the option of raising funds from international donors to equip them,” said Samat Dzhanteliev, deputy chief of Gosstroi.
The absence of efficient tariff policy is another major problem.
Local boards as agreed with anti-monopoly authorities must approve tariffs. For example, residents of the village of Gulcha, Osh region, pay 16 Kyrgyz som (0.17 cents) per one cubic metre of water. In Bishkek, one cubic metre of water costs 10.45 Kyrgyz som (0.11 dollars). In villages, the base cost is higher as expenditures are distributed between the total number of residents.
“Tariffs are often approved at the level of 30-40 per cent of the real price of drinking water. Local governments do not raise public awareness in this regard. Gosstroi is currently revising the draft law ‘On drinking water supply and discharge’, which provides for the approval of tariffs at rates at least equal to the base cost,” Dzhanteliev said.
Residents of Kyrgyzstan take any increase in prices of public utilities very painfully. Many people believe that water must be free of charge in the country rich in water resources. Therefore, it would be difficult to change the tariff policy without the public awareness campaign.