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ADB to allocate another grant to Tajikistan to improve water resources management

27 June 2018 [15:56] - TODAY.AZ

By  Trend


The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a grant of $6.5 million as additional funding for the ongoing project to improve water management in the Panj river basin in Tajikistan, reports the Asia-Plus periodical June 26.

The additional funding will be accompanied by a $5 million grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which will be administered by ADB.

These funds will be supplemented by the assistance in the amount of $30 million, approved by ADB in October 2016, including a grant and technical assistance in the amount of $5 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction for this project.

"The Panj river basin is vital for the economy and development of Tajikistan, but it is home to some of the poorest communities which are most vulnerable to climate change. Additional support from ADB and GCF will help to continue ongoing initiatives to strengthen Tajikistan's resilience to climate change in the area of water resources and agriculture," said Nathan Rive, Climate Change Specialist, Central and West Asia Regional Department of ADB.

The grant of $6.5 million will help to expand the scope of the current project and include a component on institutional development and capacity-building of the State Agency for Hydrometeorology of Tajikistan.

The project will support the development of the Agency into a sustainable, reliable and well-resourced national agency for meteorology and hydrology, providing quality climate services for water management and disaster risk reduction in communities along the Panj river basin.

In particular, additional funding will help to address the Agency's major institutional weaknesses. Some of these efforts include the modernization of the Agency's new operations center, as well as the updating of its legal and organizational structure to improve management efficiency and financial autonomy.

In addition to grants provided by the ADB and the GCF, the Tajik government has also allocated $1.3 million to this project. The project is expected to be completed in mid-2023.

In 2018, ADB is celebrating 20 years of cooperation with Tajikistan. So far, ADB has approved assistance to Tajikistan in the total amount of about $1.6 billion in the form of concessional loans, grants and technical assistance. ADB's partnership with Tajikistan, which began in 1998, allowed for rehabilitating or building a new transport and energy infrastructure in the country, helped social development, expanded agricultural production and supported regional cooperation and trade.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/171406.html

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