Expanding the integrated development of rural areas in Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya and Samarkand regions

May 17, 2024

On March 28, 2024, the Presidential Decree #PK-141 was adopted on the start of the second phase of the IDB project "Integrated Rural Development", aimed at socio-economic improvement of the lives of the population in remote areas of our country.

In order to implement this resolution, on May 13-15, 2024, the launch ceremonies of a new joint project of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the United Nations Development Programme "Integrated Rural Development", funded by the Islamic Development Bank, were held in the cities of Termez, Karshi and Samarkand. This project provides for the construction and overhaul of social infrastructure facilities, improving electricity, drinking water and sewerage, creating green jobs and increasing the capacity of local specialists and the population in 157 mahallas of 21 districts of Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya and Samarkand regions.

This project consists of three components and will be implemented by synergy between them. In the development of Community Development Plans (Component 1), communities will be invited to contribute to the identification of priority areas in the field of economic and agricultural infrastructure, as well as priority areas for the development of agriculture/business for their makhallas. In identifying income generation opportunities (Component 2), communities will be asked to identify how infrastructure investments can be optimized to support them in achieving certain agricultural/business development goals. Component 3, which focuses on institutionalizing participatory mechanisms and promoting the sustainability of the infrastructure established under the project activities, will be tailored to local conditions, infrastructure investments and income generation priorities. And what is important, within the framework of all components of the project, solutions on climatic features will be promoted.

The project will be implemented in Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya and Samarkand regions in 2024-2028 and its budget is $6 million. As a result of its implementation, the living conditions of more than 622 thousand residents of rural areas will be improved.

We remind you that the first stage of the project, which has been operating from 2022 to this day, has the same tasks and covers the construction and repair of facilities in remote villages in order to improve the quality of life of the rural population of 170 makhallas of 20 target districts of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Bukhara and Navoi regions, as well as increasing the capacity of the population, climate change issues, digitalization, pilot projects and others. At the moment, with the active participation of the local of the population 900 subprojects were selected, which will be built or reconstructed in 2024-2025.

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