In Tajikistan: Improving City Water and Residents’ Lives

In the Abdurahmanov family’s flat on the 4^th floor of this apartment block in Kurgan-Tube, simply turning the water tap is a pleasure.  Out comes clean, drinkable water. Muhammadjon Abdurahmanov lives here with his parents, and he likes the change. “The problem with the water is over. Now I can wash my hands, take a shower, get on with my life faster,” he says.

His mother, Saodat Abdurahmanova, agrees, saying, “the water is definitely better. For example, it used to take us ten minutes to go fetch water, and even then it wasn’t always clean—now, we can get things done faster.”

Not far from the Abdurahmanova’s flat, in Farkhor, people still rely on water from irrigation channels, storm water drains or from old public pumps. But that will soon change.

Proper City Services as a Foundation for Prosperity

Clean water and proper sanitation are part of a World Bank project in Tajikistan aimed at improving basic city services. Efficient city services are a foundation for economic growth. The project has brought clean, reliable water to the 62,280 people of Kurgan-Tube, and a total 140,000 residents of seven other smaller cities; Farkhor and Vose, two cities also in the country’s Khatlon region, are next to get new pipes, public restrooms, and wells.

The goal is to prevent water-borne disease and to halve the number of people in Tajikistan who don’t have access to safe water and basic sanitation. Workers have built and repaired more than 1,600 city water points and nearly 100,000 household water connections.  “The water is constant, it is better to drink and wash to do our daily chores,” says Rahmatjon Akramboev, who lives in Kurgan-Tube.

Another part of the work is a pilot project in Farkhor to streamline and modernize metering and billing, and a subsidy program for household water connections. This envisions a future in which the new water system can stay economically afloat.