Nexus Regional Dialogue Central Asia // Sixth meeting of the TWG for the transboundary demo project at Tuyamuyun hydroelectric complex

The full version of this article was initially published on the CAREC website on October 26th, 2022. The article is also available in Russian.

Meeting summary

The sixth meeting of the Technical Working Group (TWG) established to implement the transboundary demo project at Tuyamuyun Hydroelectric Complex (hereafter – THC) took place online within the framework of the Central Asia Nexus Dialogue Project (hereafter – Project) implemented by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (hereafter – CAREC) with financial support of the European Union (EU).

This demo project is co-financed by the project “Laboratory of Innovative Solutions for the Water Sector of Central Asia” under the Central Asia Water and Energy Program (CAWEP) implemented through the Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered by the World Bank, as well as by the World Bank’s Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin Project (CAMP4ASB), and the Global Nexus Secretariat.

The purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss the draft deliverables of international consultants Deltares and Altus Impact related to recommended approach to clean-up and processing of sediments in the Ruslovoe reservoir and profit and loss analysis on dredging and recycling the sediments.

The meeting was attended by the TWG members nominated by the Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, THC and State Committee for Water Resources of Turkmenistan. Representatives of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan and the World Bank also participated in the meeting. In total, there were 24 participants.

The first session was dedicated to the presentation of the experts’ draft deliverables for the last quarter.
These deliverables are the last analytical deliverables according to the demo project’s ToR. As the next step, the project team will develop an investment proposal for THC on the basis of all completed analytical deliverables.

I. Presentation of draft final report: Recommendations for management of sediment-induced problems at THC

Dr Sanjay Giri, an international expert with over 25 years of experience in reservoir management, also acknowledged that sedimentation challenges at the Ruslovoe reservoir are rather severe by scale.

II. The economic case for sediment re-use from the Ruslovoe reservoir

Dr Vanja Westerberg, Economist of international consulting firm Altus Impact, presented draft profit and loss analysis of the clean-up and processing of sediments from the Ruslovoe reservoir for first-category problem measures proposed by Dr Sanjay Giri.

In addition to presentations of international experts, Dr Adylkhan Tovasarov (General Director of Central Asian Institute for Environmental Research) shared scientific insights about production of marketable materials made of sediments from the Ruslovoe reservoir, which his laboratory continued testing on voluntary basis.

Main outcomes of the TWG meeting

1. Draft deliverables of the international experts were endorsed and supported by the TWG members from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for continuation of work in these areas;
2. Development of an investment proposal concept on the basis of the calculations done by the international experts was supported as the next step.

It was agreed that CAREC would send draft reports of the international experts through official channels to the Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, THC and State Committee of Water Resources of Turkmenistan for detailed review and comments. Final reports reflecting the comments of TWG members will be presented at the 5th Meeting of the Regional Coordination Committee to be held on 5 December 2022 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

For the full version of this article and further details, including the meeting concept, agenda and list of participants please see the CAREC website. The article is also available in Russian.

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