ROLES AND ISSUES OF WATER USERS' ASSOCIATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND UZBEKISTAN IN CENTRAL ASIA

摘要

The Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan in the Aral Searnbasin in Central Asia have some of the largest irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the world.rnIn the Soviet era, a huge amount of irrigation and drainage infrastructure was constructed by therngovernment, mainly to increase the production of cotton and wheat. However, the irrigation andrndrainage infrastructure has severely deteriorated since the independence of the Central Asianrncountries in 1991, mainly due to the lack of necessary funds for operation, maintenance, andrnrehabilitation. The governments intend to establish and develop water users' associationsrn(WUAs), which are expected to play an important role in operation and maintenance (O&M) ofrnthe irrigation and drainage infrastructure. However, the use of WUAs for O&M is quite new inrnCentral Asia. Therefore, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and other donors havernbeen implementing projects not only for the rehabilitation of the deteriorated irrigation andrndrainage infrastructure, but also for the establishment and development of WUAs. The roles ofrnWUAs for O&M in Central Asia are very important in having an efficient and sustainablernirrigation and drainage system. The roles and issues facing WUAs in the Kyrgyz Republic, whichrnhas adopted a rapid approach to reform, and Uzbekistan, which has taken a gradual approach,rnwere reviewed in this study.