DUSHANBE , May 27, Asia-Plus - On Saturday May 27, the Dushanbe mayor’s office hosted a news conference on problems of providing population with drinking water.  

On the water supply situation in the Tajik capital, head of the “Dushanbe Vodokanal” (DVK: Dushanbe ’s municipal waterworks) enterprise, Behruz Safarov, noted that annually, 312 million cubic meters of water is supplied to the city.  Of this amount, 50 percent is intended for the population, 23 percent for the organizations funded from the budget and 27 percent for non-budgetary organizations.  

According to him, the low rate of the collection of funds from the public and enterprises evokes concern.  “According to the target, we should to annually collect 33.9 million Somonis for water consumption (14.3 percent from the population, 26.6 percent from the organizations funded from the budget and 59.1 percent from the non-budgetary organizations),” Mr. Safarov said, noting that they have managed to collect only 11.6 percent of the amount planned for the first four months of this year, (10.8 percent from the public, 21.7 percent for the organizations funded from the budget and 7.2 percent from the non-budgetary organizations).   

“To date, the price of water consumption has been determined at the rate of 0.09 Somoni per one cubic meter of water,” said Safarov, “While actual expenses amount to 0.51 Somoni.” 

Jamshed Laqayev, head of the unit for the implementation of the World Bank-sponsored project for rehabilitation of the Dushanbe water supply system, speaking to journalists, noted that one of terms of the project was provision of the public with water meters.  “To provide the whole Tajik capital with water meters requires US$9 million,” he said.  According to him, it is planned to install 2,500 water meters at enterprises and organizations and one water meter at each of multi-storied residential buildings in Dushanbe .  

 First Deputy Dushanbe Mayor, Masaid Homidov telling the news conference dwelled on a progress of a spring conscription campaign in the city.  “ Dushanbe has to date reached 92 percent of the spring conscription target,” Homidov said, noting that the Dushanbe district of Shohmansur has so far fulfilled its target on the conscription.