DUSHANBE, May 14, Asia-Plus -- All residential buildings in Dushanbe will be provided with safe drinking water already in a year, Hamroqul Samiyev, the director of the state-run Dushanbe water supply project management unit, remarked at a briefing in Dushanbe on May 11.  

            According to him, safe drinking water will come to the residential buildings after the completion of rehabilitation of the daily regulation pond.  “The real term for completing the rehabilitation work at the pond is 18 months but the Dushanbe municipal waterworks (Dushanbevodokanal or DVK) has pledged to complete it in 12 months,” Samiyev said.  

            In the meantime, the DVK engineer-in-chief Mirzo Khushvakhtov noted that the first phase of the rehabilitation of the daily regulation pond, sponsored by the World Bank, had already been completed.  “At present 35% of the Dushanbe population has access to safe drinking water,” Khushvakhtov said.    

Samiyev noted that they will hold a tender for implementation of the second phase at the end of May.  “The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has provided $10 million for this purpose,” said Samiyev, “Some $3 million will be spent for cleaning the daily regulation pond alone.”  

Speaking to journalists, Jamshed Samiyev, the director of the Dushanbe water supply project coordination unit, said that of $24 million provided by the World Bank for this project, they had spent more than $18 million so far.  According to him, the implementation of the project has led to a 15% increase in access to safe drinking water in the Tajik capital.