Water Institutional Reforms in Kyrgyzstan - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 112

The first WUAs were established by the Kyrgyz government in the mid 1990s. Their number
was limited and most of them failed. 163 The concept as well as pilot projects were then devel
oped with the help of loans granted by the ADB, FAO, and the Japanese government. Since
the end of the 1990s, countrywide development of WUAs takes place with the support of the
World Bank, since 2001 it was amended by the ADB. 164 In 2000, a WUA support department
( otdel podderzhki AVP ) was created at the DepVodKhoz and at its branches in the seven oblasts , as
well as in many of the republic's 42 raions , financed by the World Bank. The employees of the
WUA support departments are paid using project funds with a salary orientated toward the
usual wages in public service. As a long term aim, they are to be integrated into the water ad
ministration. The WUA support departments at the raion level helps WUAs with tasks such as
registration, setting up their budgets, and making the contracts on water with the farmers and
the RaiVodKhoz . It provides training measures for WUA staff and council members on topics
such as the foundation and development of WUAs, financial administration, engineering, water
usage, and legal issues.
In April 2004, more than half of the irrigated land area in Kyrgyzstan was managed by WUAs,
as presented in the following chart (Table 14).
Table 14: Water user associations in Kyrgyzstan, as of April 1, 2004

Irrigation area
managed by WUA,
in ha

Irrigation area
managed by WUA,
in %

Number
of WUAs

Total irrigation
area, ha

Oblast Raion

Batken Batken 8 14885 11620 78%

Kadamzhay 10 26046 19795 76%

Ljajljak 6 14408 9924 69%

Kyzyl-Kija 0 2150 0 0

Total 24 57489 41339 72%

Jalal-Abad Suzak 12 29482 17895 61%

Bazar-Korgon 6 18271 10865 59%

Nooken 12 22900 20947 91%

Ak-Syj 4 11924 8437 71%

Ala-Bukin 8 16863 14070 83%

Toktogul 5 14049 5790 41%

Toguz-Torouz 6 3642 2137 59%

Chatkal 1 7061 3550 50%

Total 54 124192 83691 67%

Issyk-Kul Ak-Suj 8 40682 16521 41%

Dzheti-Oguz 5 42285 16318 39%

Issyk-Kul 9 32935 15088 46%

163 E-mail communication with an international consultant, 10/16/2005.
164 The respective projects are the World Bank's “On-Farm Irrigation Project” (since 2001) and the ADB's
“Agriculture Area Development Project” (since 1998). These projects target the general rehabilitation and more
efficient management of off- and on-farm irrigation canals with the establishment of WUAs being one component.
Both projects cooperate closely. The WUA component is supposed to introduce WUAs as a new organization and to
strengthen them so that they can take over the operation and maintenance of the irrigation infrastructure of the former
kolkhozes and sovkhozes in the long term.