Comparative Research Design - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 60

(Rakhmonov 2003). 44 The objective of more land reclamation in order to meet food security
for a growing population was also affirmed in the 2006 Water Sector Development Strategy
(MIWM, UNDP, EC IFAS 2006: 9). In Kyrgyzstan, there are also plans to expand irrigation
land in order to achieve food security. There are approximately 1 Mio ha land suitable for
irrigation. Yet both countries lack the financial resources to realize these plans. 45
While the quota system remained intact, the integrated water energy system of Central
Asia broke down with the end of the Soviet Union. 46 As described above, Kyrgyzstan as well
as Tajikistan has dams and hydropower plants built in Soviet times at their disposal. The origi
nal objective then was not power production but enhancement of water storage capacities for a
better regulation of irrigation water. With the stored smelt water from the glaciers and its pre
cise discharge, the reclamation of tens of thousands hectares of additional agricultural land was
possible, which was especially used for cotton cultivation in the downstream Soviet republics
of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Hence, most water was discharged in summer
when the power it produced was not needed. In winter, the energy needs of the Kyrgyz and
Tajik SSR were in turn covered by fuel imports from the Uzbek, Kazakh and Turkmen SSRs.
Due to this system of energy compensations, hydropower production was not a concern for
the two republics: “In the past, we did not think about electrical energy” (Vice minister of the
MinVodKhoz , Dushanbe, 10/09/2003). Since independence, the downstream states have begun
to demand world market prices for their energy fuels, which the impoverished upstream states
have been unable to pay. 47 Since then, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have been confronted with
energy shortages especially in winter. To become less dependent on energy imports, both
countries have decided to use their hydropower potential more.
Kyrgyzstan changed the working regime of the Toktogul reservoir according to its own
energy needs: Most of the water is discharged in winter and not in summer (see Table 7 be
low). While during Soviet times 69% of the water was discharged in summer, in the 1990s it
declined to 34%. 48
Table 7: Water discharge from the Toktogul reservoir

Average per
year

1985-1991 1992-1994

Winter Summer Winter Summer

Discharge, km³ 11.46 3.52 7.93 7.59 5.73

Source: Mamatkanov 2002: 25.
In addition, there are plans to build new dams like the two Kambaratin HPPs ( Kambaratinskij
GES ) upstream the Toktogul reservoir at the Naryn River. However, due to lack of finance,
the plans were not realized during the research period. The plans are not only to cover the
energy needs of the country. Kyrgyzstan already exports power to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, the Russian Federation and China and strives to further expand power exports
(Giese, Sehring 2007).

44 Author's interview with representative of the EC-IFAS, Dushanbe, 10/21/2003.
45 Author's interview with water expert at the MISI, Bishkek, 09/16/2003.
46 There are only informal yearly barter agreements on water for energy exchanges. An agreement on the Syr Darya of
1998 is not effectively implemented. See Sehring 2007.
47 For details see Giese et al. 2004.
48 For details and consequences see Giese et al. 2004: 9f.