In 2025, Kazakhstan plans to build 1,953 km of irrigation canals to provide water to 256,000 hectares of farmland, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov announced at a government meeting on March 4.
This year, as part of the first phase of the Water Resources Management Program for 2024-2030, the Ministry of Water Resources will begin construction of four new reservoirs in three regions of the country. The Akmola and Kalguty reservoirs in the Zhambyl region and Karaozek reservoir in the Kyzylorda region will provide irrigation water to 22,500 hectares of farmland, and the Bolshoy Uzen reservoir in the West Kazakhstan region will protect two villages with a total population of 5,000 people from flooding.
The first phase also includes the reconstruction of two reservoirs in the Zhambyl region and one reservoir in the Turkestan region.
It is also planned to modernize 115 irrigation canals with a total length of 3,452 km in six regions: Almaty, Zhambyl, Zhetisu, West Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda, and Turkestan.
The second phase of the program will reconstruct 13 existing reservoirs and modernize more than 5,000 km of canals in 10 regions.
According to Nurzhigitov, the implementation of all the planned initiatives will save up to 10 billion cubic meters of water by 2030.
