Water Institutional Reforms in Tajikistan - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 133

major multi million dollar projects, mostly those of the international financial institutions (WB,
ADB, and IDB). 197
The amount of allocated financial means declined from 72 Mio USD in 1991 to 6.5 Mio
USD in 2002, or by more than 90% (UNDP 2003: 33). Since 1996, only 50% of the costs of
the MinVodKhoz have been financed by the state budget while it is expected to cover the other
half of its expenses with the ISF. It should be noted that due to the costs for electricity at the
pumping stations, irrigation in Tajikistan is more expensive than in other Central Asian coun
tries. The electricity costs alone amount to approximately 22 Mio USD per year; many local
water departments have gone into debt to the power providers. 198 Salaries are low. In Tajikis
tan, the average wages in the public water sector are 15 USD per month. Such salaries are
hardly enough to cover living expenses and hence do not only lessen the attractiveness of the
positions and the motivation of the personnel, but they also make the employees vulnerable to
corruption. Many employees are forced to follow other income generating activities besides
their job (which means less commitment), accept bribes, or earn extra money through in
volvement in donor projects (an option open to higher level bureaucrats). This limits the effec
tiveness of the administration as low salaries do not provide an incentive to perform well (GoT
2002: 19; UNDP 2003: 25f). In the words of one director of a RaiVodKhoz , “for twenty somoni
you do not work, you only come to work in the morning and leave work in the evening.” 199 In
addition, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russian experts who filled senior tech
nical and administrative positions emigrated. In Tajikistan, this general Central Asian trend was
even greater due to the civil war.
The Ministry has branches in all oblasts ( OblVodKhoz ) and raions ( RaiVodKhoz ) and regional
offices in Kulyob, Dushanbe, Gissar, and Vaksh. In areas with pumping irrigation, special
agencies for O&M of the pumping stations and boreholes exist. 200 The local RaiVodKhoz is
responsible for the water supply for irrigation, melioration, operation of pumping stations,
ground water wells, and channels. It used to be responsible for the delivery of water to the
sovkhozes and kolkhozes , while they themselves managed the on farm irrigation systems. Where
the state and collective farms have been dissolved, the RaiVodKhoz has contracts either with
the DFs or, in those places where they already exist, with Water User Associations (see ch.
7.3.4 below). 201 The department for foreign investments has no branches in the oblasts and
raions . In regions with many donor projects, this leads to excessive demands directed at the
local water agencies and a lack of coordination of donor projects. 202
Only approximately 77 people work in the central apparatus of the MinVodKhoz , but
many are affiliated with its various sub divisions. There are no exact data on the total number
of employees, but according to the vice minister, about 16,500 people work for the MinVodK
hoz . 203 In the northern Sughd oblast , for example, there are 4,000 employees, primarily people
197 Author's interview with official at the department for foreign investments of the MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe,
10/28/2005.
198 Author's interview with the vice-minister of the MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 10/09/2003.
199 Author's interview with the director of a local water department, Sughd oblast, 09/01/04. 20 somoni is about 7
USD.
200 These are the agencies LoPremo, KTTPremo, Dumo, KTPremo, GBAOPremo, SE “TSHVS” (MIWM, UNDP,
EC-IFAS 2006:71).
201 Author's interview with the vice-minister of the MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 10/09/2003; with the director of the
OblVodKhoz Sughd, Khudjand, 09/02/2004.
202 Author's interview with a senior official at the CFPS, Dushanbe, 10/13/2003 and with a senior official the
OblVodKhoz Sughd, Khudjand, 10/11/2005.
203 Author's interview with the vice-minister of the MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 10/09/2003.