Bishkek Water Supply Project II

The urban water supply and sewerage sector in the Kyrgyz Republic is decentralized and all the assets are owned by the municipalities. Due to the lack of management capacities and financial constraints, municipal water supply systems have seriously deteriorated, causing potential threats to human health and the environment.

The City of Bishkek is the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, with a population of more than one million people. The water supply is obtained from underground sources. The waste water collection system includes the sewer system and a waste water treatment plant. The infastructure is deteriorated and needs to be repaired.

The project will provide reliable access to safe drinking water and waste water services and contribute thus to the sustainable economic development of the city of Bishkek.

The project will improve the Water Company's capacities in managing its water and waste water infrastructure with regards to financial and operational aspects- and guarantee the customers of the Water Company 24 hours, uninterrupted and adequate access to water and waste water services in good quality and at affordable costs.

Expected results:  

Physical infrastructure outputs are (i) the increased water production of the well fields to cover the growing water demand (the additional daily production of 55,000 m# will cover the water demand of about 194,000 consumers), (ii) the improved sanitation situation in new settlement areas (a new sewerage with a length of approximately 17 km will connect new residential areas and existing residential areas not yet connected to the wastewater system), and (iii) the enhanced quality of water and water quality control (the project will purchase new laboratory equipment to enable proper chemical and bacteriological analyses).

Institutional Development outputs are an improved financial situation of the Bishkek Water Company, by the introduction of a cost recovery policy in the Company.

Results from previous phases:  

The first project phase focused on priority investments for the rehabilitation of the most outdated water supply infrastructure and on basic aspects of the institutional and corporate development of the Water Company.

The main results achieved in Phase I are (i) the reduction of unaccounted for water (consumption decreased by 68 % for metered households), (ii) a first tariff increase towards cost recovery, (iii) the improvement of the collection rate (from 83 to 90%) and of the financial performance of the Water Company (from an operating loss of EUR 2.9 mio in 2009 to a profit of EUR 0.5 mio in 2012).

Shortcomings: The planned dialogue between the population and the Water Company has not been fully achieved. Due to the civil unrest in 2010 and several unforeseeable re-tenders of one of the project components (drilling of new boreholes) the physical completion of the project has been delayed by 30 months though the success of the project is not threatened.

Phase 1 30.09.2014 - 30.06.2022   (Completed)