For centuries, civilizations grew and flourished in the basin of the Amu Darya, the largest river in Central Asia.
Today, managing scarce water resources has become a critical challenge for Uzbekistan. A major factor contributing to the crisis is outdated and deteriorated irrigation and drainage systems which cost the country $1.7 billion (S$2.4 billion) annually from lost production. Existing irrigation infrastructure cannot provide a reliable supply of irrigation water to meet the needs of high-value crops.
To address these challenges, the Asian Development Bank is proposing a project to deliver climate adaptive solutions for water resources management. The project will modernise outdated irrigation and drainage systems within the Amu Darya basin and selected reaches of the Zarafshan irrigation system in Uzbekistan.
