Japan updates water infrastructure strategy in Tajikistan following low project rating

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is financing a new water supply system in the Abdurahmoni Jomi district of Tajikistan to address issues identified in a previous project.

An external evaluation gave a prior grant in the Hamadoni district a D rating, the lowest possible score, because the system failed to provide 24-hour water access despite meeting technical production targets. The original project in Moskva provided pipelines and wells but struggled with high water losses and low pressure.

Because the local utility charged residents a flat monthly fee for unlimited water, many people left taps running to irrigate gardens. This behavior, combined with leaks in pipes that lacked household meters, prevented the system from delivering a steady supply to the community. Japan is now applying lessons from these failures to the new Jomi district project. The current plan includes infrastructure investment and a technical cooperation program to expand metered billing across several districts.

This approach aims to create a sustainable model for water management that local utilities can afford to maintain. By September 2026, the project expects to have drilled five wells and installed pumps to benefit more than 50,000 residents. Tajikistan also plans to use a unified digital platform to manage customer records and billing for small water utilities, with plans to expand the system nationwide.