The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $32.35 million of additional financing for a rural water supply and sanitation development program in northern Kyrgyz Republic that is already performing well. Website of the bank says.
The additional financing will empower the government to continue rolling out its water program under the Kyrgyz Republic’s National Development Strategy, 2018—2040—which aims to provide drinking water to 95 percent of the country’s settlements and extend centralized water supply to more than 2 million rural residents.
Using a results-based approach, the additional financing will help to scale up the successful intervention in centrally located Naryn region—raising the initial target of 64,000 people reached to 100,000. The funding also enables an increase in the number of education and health facilities that have separate toilets for women and men from 21 to 37.
As ADB notes, climate change considerations are integrated throughout the program’s design and targets. This includes piloting household sanitation solutions that are resilient to climate change and disasters. The program will fund climate risk assessments of potential potable water sources and deploy campaigns to help raise awareness among local residents on the importance of saving water.
«While the Kyrgyz Republic has abundant water, it is not distributed evenly—especially to villages across Naryn region,» said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov. «With climate change accelerating the pace of glacial melt, the availability of water in the glacier-dependent province faces a serious threat. This additional support will help build infrastructure that can withstand the impacts of climate change—ensuring that the Kyrgyz people in these low-income and rural areas have access to safe and reliable water and sanitation services.»
The financing comprises a $27 million concessional loan and a $5.35 million grant from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries. The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is also contributing another $6.45 million in this round of financing.
- Since the Kyrgyz Republic joined ADB in 1994, the bank has committed public sector loans, grants, and technical assistance totaling $2.6 billion to the country.
