DUSHANBE (ADB press service)— The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has approved a $6.5 mln grant as additional financing for the ongoing efforts to improve water resources management in the Pyanj River Basin, Tajikistan’s largest river basin, in the southern part of the country. The additional financing will be accompanied by a $5 mln grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), to be administered by ADB.

This follows the $30 mln assistance approved by ADB in October 2016, including a $5 mln grant and technical assistance from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction for the project.

The $6.5 mln grant will help expand the scope of the current Water Resources Management in the Pyanj River Basin Project to include capacity building and institutional development of the State Agency for Hydrometeorology of Tajikistan (Hydromet). The project will support Hydromet’s development to a sustainable, well-resourced, and reliable national agency for meteorology and hydrology, providing quality climate services for water resource management and disaster risk reduction in the communities along the Pyanj River Basin.

In particular, the additional financing will help address Hydromet’s key underlying institutional weaknesses. Some of the efforts include modernizing the agency’s new operations center, as well as the updating of Hydromet’s legal and organizational structure towards increased management and financial autonomy.

Apart from ADB and GCF’s grants, the Government of Tajikistan is also providing $1.3 million for the project. The project is expected to be completed in mid-2023.