More than 80,000 people living in small municipalities in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic will have uninterrupted access to fresh drinking water thanks to a new financing package organised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) under its Kyrgyz Water Resilience Framework (KWRF).
The package of up to €16 million will consist of a 15-year sovereign loan of up to €8 million provided by the EBRD and investment grants of up to €8 million from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. The funds will help renovate water supply networks, procure operational and maintenance equipment and introduce household metering in the cities of Aidarken, Kadamzhai, Kok-Jangak and Tash-Komur in the Batken and Jalal-Abad oblasts.
All four municipalities are in the south of the country, where the situation with shared water resources is most pressing. The project will address critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure concerns and promote the sustainable use of water by minimising water loss and encouraging water conservation.
The KWRF builds on the Kyrgyz Republic Water and Wastewater Framework, a highly successful undertaking originally approved in 2011, which has so far financed 21 projects in 19 cities across the country. The KWRF continues the Bank’s efforts to strengthen the Kyrgyz Republic’s resilience to climate change and to reduce both energy and water consumption by rehabilitating water networks and building pump stations, clean water reservoirs as well as water intake and treatment facilities.
The EBRD has, to date, invested €879 million in the Kyrgyz Republic through 221 projects, with most of those funds going to support private entrepreneurship. Some €160 million has so far been invested in 24 water projects in 20 municipalities across the country.
