Mott MacDonald Win World Bank-supported Contract

Mott MacDonald and its Turkish partner Temelsu have been granted a contract by Uzbekistan's Ministry of Agriculture & Water Resources to provide advisory, design and construction supervision services on the £41m World Bank-supported Drainage, Irrigation and Wetland Improvement Project in Uzbekistan until the end of 2009.

Mott MacDonald and Temelsu will be involved in the rehabilitation and construction of a 300 km long outfall drain carrying flows up to 25mł/s towards the former Aral Sea shore as well as rehabilitation of the irrigation and drainage system serving 100,000 ha of the south Karakalpakstan province including off-farm and on-farm works.

The consultants will also study the operation of key hydraulic infrastructure on the Amu Darya (the larger of the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea), Tuyamuyun dam and Takhiatash barrage to improve water management. Providing agricultural and irrigation advice to the local communities in the area and helping to form water user associations are also part of their role.

The project aims to support improving the livelihoods of the 400,000 people living in one of the poorer regions in central Asia, where the local economy is heavily reliant on irrigated agriculture. The project will also contribute towards protection of the Bukhara deer and other vulnerable species by providing reliable water supplies to their threatened habitat.

The Aral Sea Basin Programme was launched in 1994 and comprises eight programmes and about 20 projects. DIWIP is one of the projects included in this programme. The main objectives of multinational and multi-sectoral efforts are to stabilise the environment of the Aral Sea Basin and rehabilitate the environmental disaster area around the sea.