Water resources

The development objective of the Additional Financing for the Second On-Farm Irrigation Project was to improve irrigation service delivery on a sustainable basis that to contribute to increased agricultural productivity among irrigation farmers. This was achieved through further development of Water Users Associations (WUAs) and rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation and drainage infrastructure. The Additional Financing (AF) helped to finance the costs associated with scaling up of project activities to enhance the impact of this well-performing project, especially on vulnerable rural communities in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic which have been affected by ethnic clashes in the summer of 2010. The AF financed: a) the rehabilitation of on-farm Irrigation and Drainage (I&D) systems for around 18 WUAs on 34,800 hectares, directly benefitting 34,400 farmers (around US$12.9 million); b) training and goods to 475 WUAs to increase their capacity to sustainably manage the on-farm I&D systems (around US$1.5 million); and c) operating costs of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) (around US$0.6 million). In addition, the rehabilitation works emploied around 550 people for 7,600 man months, with an average income of US$130 per month. There were no changes to the project development objective, the project activities and the implementation arrangements under the AF.

The development objective of the Water Management Improvement Project for Kyrgyz Republic was to improving irrigation service delivery and water management for the benefit of a sustainable increase in irrigated agricultural productivity; and improving national water resource governance for the benefit of water users and the nation as a whole. The indicators and the target values in the Results Framework (RF) were changed: a) the indicators were changed and some newly added in order to be more relevant, realistic, and achievable, and better aligned with the project activities; and b) the project implementing period was extended in December 2012 to November 30, 2013. The target values were changed in line with the extension and the actual implementation progress.

Sectors:
Irrigation and drainage 47%,
General water, sanitation and flood protection sector 34%,
Public Administration – Water, Sanitation and Waste Management 19%.
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Implementation Status and Key Decisions
The NWRMP was envisaged as a series of two projects earmarked for funding by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and
administered by the World Bank. The Project Development Objective of the first phase, NWRMP-1, was to improve water resources management
capability and irrigation service delivery for the benefit of water users. The NWRMP-1 had four components, financing mostly technical assistance for: (i)
Strengthening national water management capacity, including establishment of a Water Information System (WIS); (ii) Improving irrigation service
delivery to Water Users Associations (WUAs); (iii) Improving irrigation management by Water Users Associations; and (iv) Project management. The
project was implemented nationwide, covering all river basins, government-run off-farm irrigation systems, off-farm systems managed by Federation of
WUAs, and all WUA-managed irrigation systems, with localized initiatives to test and develop specific processes and procedures. Key indicators for the
NWRMP-1 were: (i) DWRLI responsible for functions of the State Water Administration, and separate divisions for water resources management (WRM)
and irrigation and drainage management (IDM) operating more effectively; (ii) WUAs supplied with adequate volumes of water by IDM division (for 6
pilot schemes); (iii) WUAs providing satisfactory levels of service to water users (for rehabilitated WUAs); and (iv) Area with improved I&D services. The
project was approved by the Bank’s Regional Vice-President in April 2014 and became effective April 29, 2015, with a scheduled closing date of June
30, 2017.
The long period between approval and effectiveness has considerably shortened the project implementation period by 6 months. A nocost
extension of the project duration was required. Both implementation progress and achievement of development objective were rated Moderately Satisfactory.