Uzbekistan allocates $3 billion to mitigate the Aral Sea disaster

In accordance with the decree "On measures to implement the agreements reached during the international conference entitled ‘Development of cooperation in the Aral Sea basin to mitigate consequences of environmental catastrophe" the list includes 23 national projects worth $2,972 billion dollars and 8 regional projects worth $80.2 million. The conference was organized by President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and took place in the city of Urgench on 28-29 October 2014. The long-term concessional loans totaling $1.9 billion and technical assistance funds in the amount of $200 million have been attracted by international and foreign governmental financial institutions, as well as by Uzbekistan. Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank, the World Bank, JICA, the OPEC Fund, the Development Fund of Abu Dhabi, KFAED, K-Water (Republic of Korea), UN agencies and others will co-finance the projects. The largest projects include the construction of two combined-cycle plants with the capacity of 230 - 280 megawatt each at Takhiatash thermal power plant (project cost - $ 710.2 million), project for modernization of Amu-Bukhara main canal ($402.1 million), and reconstruction of sections of Guzar-Bukhara-Nukus-Beineu highway (A-380) ($356 million). NOTE: The sea shrank largely due to a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region. The shrinking of the Aral Sea has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters". The region's once-prosperous fishing industry has been essentially destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The sea which has shrunk by 90 per cent has ruined the once-robust fishing economy. Moreover, its evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles. The departure of the sea has reportedly also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.