Three reservoirs planned in West Kazakhstan

West Kazakhstan region will build a new reservoir with a capacity of 28 million cubic metres near the village of Zhalpaktal. The facility will store flood waters and protect settlements from flooding, according to Tengrinews, which cited 24.kz. Meanwhile, the Kushum canal, widened to 30 metres last year, is being cleared and deepened with dredgers; six of its 21 kilometres have been cleaned this season.

Tolegen Gumarov, director of the regional branch of Kazvodkhoz, said the canal had not been cleaned for about 30 years and that 200 of the region's 1,860 kilometres of canals have now been mechanically cleaned. Darkhan Zakarin, deputy head of the regional natural resources department, said the Zhalpaktal project, costing 8.4 billion tenge, has passed state expertise and is in the contractor selection stage. Two more reservoirs are planned on the Derkul and Saryozen rivers.