The Uzsuvtaminot and the French Suez signed an agreement on the modernization of the water supply system in the Surkhandarya province, the company's press service said.
The document was signed as part of the Uzbek-French business forum on March 11 ahead of the state visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to France.
In total, more than 20 agreements were inked during the forum in agriculture, energy, green economy, urbanism, water supply, transport, mining, healthcare and education.
A Termsheet (common terms agreement) was signed with the phase I of the Surkhandarya province water supply system modernization project.
“This agreement will be an important step in improving the drinking water supply infrastructure in Uzbekistan, introducing modern technologies and providing the population with high-quality drinking water,” Uzsuvtaminot added.
$8.3 million deal provides for the implementation of digital SCADA, GIS, and Aquadvance solutions that will manage the production and distribution of drinking water, provide a real-time network map, and reduce water losses.
Paul Bourdillon, General Director of France's Suez for Europe and Central Asia, noted in May 2024 that Suez and Uzsuvtaminot were discussing potential projects for provinces in the south and southwest of Uzbekistan, where "currently only about 40% of the population has access to water."
"We are trying to work on a project that would allow the development of networks and secondary water supply systems, as well as improve access to water for households, in order to increase this coverage from 40% to 80-90%," said a representative of the French company.
In March 2020, Suez International, the Tashkent city mayor office, Toshkent Shahar Suv Taminoti and the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities signed a joint management agreement within the framework of the Tashkent Water Sector Transformation Plan project. The administration estimated the modernization of the water supply and sewerage system at 185.4 million euros.
The French company is also involved in the construction of a new treatment facility with a daily 1 MCM wastewater processing capacity in the Tashkent province. The project, implemented by a consortium of companies from the UAE, France and Japan, is aimed at providing more than 500 thousand people and 100 enterprises with centralized sewerage.
