OSCE-supported new irrigation system in southern town of Kara-Suu is launched
On 4 December 2018, the ceremony of the opening the irrigation system with a total length of 1,373 metres was held in the city of Kara-Suu, southern Kyrgyzstan. The irrigation system provides more than 1,000 households with access to irrigation water. The project was implemented by the Kara-Suu Mayor’s Office and local residents with the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek (POiB).
Access to irrigation water remains a serious challenge in Kyrgyzstan especially in the southern part of country. With respect to irrigation supplies water management remains a key factor of economic and political security and stability in the country. Tensions and conflicts related to water use between multi-ethnic communities of the Kara-Suu district in southern Kyrgyzstan are common due to constant shortages of irrigation water.
In 2014 in order to prevent water-related conflicts and tensions in Kara-Suu, the POiB provided assistance to the Kara-Suu Mayor’s Office to rehabilitate three kilometres of the irrigation canal within the first phase of POiB’s project “Creating Conditions for Sustainable Development and Environmental Security in Kyrgyzstan”.
To this end, the POiB provided the Kara-Suu Mayor’s Office with reinforced concrete flumes to rehabilitate the canal. The importance of this result was noted by the State administration of Kara-Suu district, local residents and the Plenipotentiary Representative Office of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the south of Kyrgyzstan. The Mayor of Kara-Suu said that it solved several critical problems for the city’s residents.
This year marked the conclusion of the second phase of the project, which not only contributes to conflict prevention, but also improves the economic conditions of the local residents through provision of uninterrupted water supply for agricultural use.