On July 20, during a presentation before the president, the governor of Qashqadaryo region, Murotjon Azimov, expressed gratitude for allocated funds and described how the system previously operated.
“In recent years, you have allocated 2 trillion 750 billion soums just for water in Qashqadaryo. Respected president, in the January 2017 report, the figure was 20-30 percent, but in reality, drinking water supply was around 10-11 percent,” Azimov said.
According to him, drinking water was available only in Kitob, Shahrisabz, and Yakkabog, while in Qarshi city, water was supplied on an hourly basis.
“In other places, it existed only on paper. For instance, projects funded by the Asian Development Bank in 2002 and 2007 also remained on paper, respected president. They never existed, never worked, yet we are now paying 28 billion [soums] annually for nothing,” the governor said.
Azimov noted that today the level of drinking water supply in the region has increased from 11% to 61.8%.
“Out of 776 mahallas, 408 are fully supplied, 213 partially. Currently, water is delivered by trucks from alternative sources to 155 mahallas. Thanks to the funds you provided over the past five years, 412 kilometers of internal networks have been repaired,” he said.
In Kamashi district, the level of water network coverage reached 53%, with a similar figure recorded in Kokdala district.
The governor reported that 165 artesian wells were drilled in 85 mahallas. 134 wells were funded by the Farmers' Council fund, and 16 by the Ministry of Employment. 1.5 billion soums were allocated from the local budget, and 50 wells have already been equipped with the “Smart Well” system. Plans are in place to connect another 450 wells to this system to monitor water extraction volume and electricity consumption per well.
“We are handing over 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 apartments annually. Of course, this affects water demand, and people are migrating to Qarshi as well. Urbanization has accelerated. This naturally impacts water supply, respected president. Thank you very much, we work together with Suvankulov (head of Uzsuvtaminot Ahmad Suvankulov — ed.). Respected president, three major projects are underway: sewerage in Koson, Muborak, Shahrisabz and Kitob, and Qarshi. People feel and await all this, and it will reflect in their lives,” the Qashqadaryo governor said.
He also specifically addressed the climate issue.
“Today it was 50 degrees in Qarshi. Otherwise, the administration and other places would be crowded with people. Thank God, not a single person came to complain about electricity or ask for water. This all shows that thanks to your money allocated in recent years and the installation of internal networks, water has reached people's homes, respected president,” Azimov said.
The governor of Khorezm region, Jorabek Rahimov, also spoke about the work done in the region, emphasizing that it allowed them to endure the high temperatures more easily.
“As the governor of Qashqadaryo said, temperatures here also exceeded 50 degrees. Thanks to the system you created, respected president, we anticipated this and had no problems with electricity or drinking water at all, and now that it has cooled down, we got through it easily,” Rahimov said.
He added that if these works had not started seven or eight years ago, “we ourselves know and feel what our situation would have been during a week of heat.”
Source: www.gazeta.uz