OREANDA-NEWS. March 31, 2008. The Project seeks to improve standard of living of the fishing communities in the northern Aral Sea basin through developing business opportunities of the local fishermen: training in joint resource management, construction of mobile fishing camps, fish processing, reported the Official website http://en.government.kz.

Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Ministry and the World Bank have signed an agreement on a grant to support sustainable operation of fishing industry entities in the Aral Sea basin.

The Project seeks to improve standard of living of the fishing communities in the northern Aral Sea basin through developing business opportunities of the local fishermen: training in joint resource management, construction of mobile fishing camps, fish processing.

To finance the project, the World Bank extended a grant of USD 1 960000. The money was allocated by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) established by the Japanese Government.

In 2001, the World Bank extended a soft loan worth USD 64 million to finance a project to manage the Syrdarya River bed and preserve the northern Aral Sea.

At the signing ceremony, Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Minister Akhmetzhan Essimov noted that the first stage resulted in augmentation of the aquatic area by 500 square kilometers and significant upgrade in the standard of living of the local residents; as a result of the first stage the coast line came 50 kilometers closer to the city of Aralsk.

The second stage of the project will enable to prevent flooding of the near-by territories in the periods of winter discharge of water and construct protecting dikes; these measures will raise the water supply for 90000 hectares of irrigated lands. There are plans as well to restore the lake system, which will enable to produce up to 11,7 thousand tons of fish a year. Besides, at the Aklak waterworks facility an electric power station will be constructed to supply cheap electricity to the nearby settlements.

The allocated grant will allow enhancing the living conditions of the isolated fishing communities in the Aral region.