Azerbaijan: ADB to Extend $600 Million Urban Services Investment Program

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will extend up to $600 million in loans to Azerbaijan for water and sanitation improvements in towns that have suffered from decades of neglect and underinvestment in infrastructure.

The Board of Directors today approved a multitranche financing facility that will release loans periodically to support the Government of Azerbaijan’s Water Supply and Sanitation Investment Program. The Government has earmarked up to $200 million for the 8-year investment program, with ADB financing up to $600 million from its ordinary capital resources. In the first tranche, ADB will provide a $75 million loan.

Azerbaijan’s water and sanitation system is over 50 years old, and has fallen into decline following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the country’s independence in 1991. Services in many secondary towns are bad, with poor piped water quality, broken or clogged sewage pipes, and wastewater discharged directly into waterways. Water purchased from private vendors to augment supply is expensive, imposing a burden on the poor.

The investment program will improve the quality and coverage of water and sanitation for about 500,000 people in secondary towns and semi-urban areas outside the capital Baku. The multitranche financing facility establishes the foundation for an 8-year partnership between ADB and the government. The first tranche funds will reconstruct and build water and sewage infrastructure, expand the planning, technical and financial management capabilities of oversight agencies, and set up project management offices in the towns of Goychay and Nakhchivan. Subsequent tranches will carry out similar activities in other towns.

Introducing water meters will in turn improve the financial viability of the service providers and support conservation.

The Government of Azerbaijan is providing $25 million. The Azersu Joint Stock Company will act as the executing agency for all project activities except those in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, where the State Amelioration and Water Management Agency will be the executing agency.

Source: ADB, 23 Sep 2009

TheArabWaterChannel

TheArabWaterChannel – www.thearabwaterchannel.tv – is a new theme site presenting videos (ten at present) on water issues in the 22 countries that make up the Arab World.

It was set up by the Arab Water Council in partnership with TheWaterChannel, which hosts the site, and with the support of From the Source, an interactive multimedia platform for water issues in the Middle East.

Egypt, Qalyubia: village water system replaced after typhoid outbreak

The government has completed the construction of a new water system in Al-Baradah village, after contaminated drinking water had led to an outbreak of typhoid.

At the same time, a committee formed by the public prosecutor, cleared the contractor of the pipes of charges of polluting the water in the old water system. A committee statement explained that it is “practically impossible for the contractor to pump sewage water inside the pipes.”

It added that if that were the case, the central water pipe as well as the water pipes in all the surrounding villages would have also been contaminated.

The report further indicated that the contamination could have resulted from connecting the water pipes to an old water network, without purifying the water, adding that it could have also been the result of illegal house connections.

In related news, the prosecution office ordered the detainment of some officials in Al-Baradah village for four days pending investigations. The detainees include chairman of Al-Baradah’s local council Ibrahim Abdel Moemen, Salah Eddin Al-Seman, in charge of the village’s resources, Sayed Madbouly and Salam Al-Sayed, in charge of the village’s water pipes.

When typhoid erupted, Adly Hussein, governor of Qaliubiya, accused the contractor of polluting the drinking water in the pipes. Around 311 people in Al-Baradah were infected with typhoid two months before, but all have recovered since.

Source: Yasmine Saleh / Daily News Egypt, 09 Sep 2009

Turkey says more water for Iraq, Syria is unlikely

A water rights battle over the historic Tigris and Euphrates rivers simmered on [03 September 2009] as Iraq and Syria appealed for increased water flows to cope with severe drought but Turkey said it was already too overstretched.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said Turkey’s southeast region was also suffering from low rainfall and drought but the country was still releasing more water than it was legally obligated to its neighbors out of humanitarian concerns.

He said Turkey was releasing on average 517 cubic meters per second instead of the required 500 cubic meters per second, sacrificing its own energy needs in the process.

Turkey is advocating using water more efficiently and sustainably through joint projects instead of increasing water flows.

The meeting was called to discuss setting up joint stations to measure water volume at the rivers, as well as exchanging more information about climate and drought and creating joint education programs for more sustainable water management.

Drought-stricken Iraq has accused its upstream neighbors Turkey and Syria of taking too much from the rivers and their tributaries. The rivers’ low water flows are caused in part by the construction of dams in Turkey and Syria.

Turkey’s Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu said in opening remarks that Turkey was sacrificing energy production to release water from dams and alleviate water shortages downstream.

Nader al-Bunni, Syria’s irrigation minister, said his country was also letting more water flow into Iraq than required by agreements.

“We understand Iraq’s need for more water and we are letting 69 percent of the waters in the Euphrates for the bretheren people of Iraq. We have increased the amount from 58 percent to 69 percent,” he said.

Source: Todays Zaman, 03 Sep 2009