The World Bank has recognized the regional importance of Kambar-Ata HPP-1

The Kambar-Ata HPP-1 construction project, which the government of the Kyrgyz Republic is implementing in cooperation with the World Bank, is of regional importance in terms of water resources and energy, Hugh Riddell, head of the World Bank Representative Office in Kyrgyzstan, said today at the presentation of the bank’s study “Listening to the Kyrgyz Republic” at the presidential residence “Yntymak-Ordo”. The event was attended by the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Japarov.

Hugh Riddell assured that he is very proud of the cooperation that the World Bank has established with Kyrgyzstan, especially in the implementation of the Kambar-Ata HPP-1 project.

“The project has regional significance in terms of water resources and energy. It is very important to work for the benefit of the population. These complex reforms carried out in the Kyrgyz Republic are just so that we hear the voice of the people, no matter in which areas we would not carry out reforms or administrative-territorial reforms, or energy,” he said.

The study “Listening to the Kyrgyz Republic” is a telephone survey of a representative sample of the population throughout the republic on a specific set of issues. It allows you to understand how people assess their well-being and mood. The results help to identify the main trends and problems faced by households, as well as monitor changes in public opinion. The World Bank has been conducting a study in Kyrgyzstan since 2022.

Interestingly, before the presentation of the study, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Akylbek Japarov, told the head of the World Bank representative office in the Kyrgyz Republic about his dispute with the chief economist of the World Bank.

Akylbek Japarov said that in 2022 he was in Washington at one of the sessions of the World Bank, where the dispute took place.

“Your chief economist and I have argued that in the next 3-4 years economic growth in Kyrgyzstan will be stable and above 7 percent. He thought that such a thing was impossible, and he was ready to bet on a bottle of good wine. Now GDP growth for 11 months of 2024 is 9 percent. In 2025, when I come to Washington, he will have to supply this bottle,” the head of the cabinet said.