As investment from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) continues to pour into Central Asia, the focus is shifting from simple access to infrastructure towards sustainability, efficiency, and longevity.
For decades, infrastructure development in the region was driven by immediate necessity, often prioritizing speed and low initial costs over lifecycle performance. This approach, while solving acute shortages, has left a legacy of crumbling roads, inefficient water systems, and energy grids with high transmission losses.
The Infrastructure Gap
Sector assessments by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have estimated that over 30% of Uzbekistan's potable water is lost to aging pipes and poor pressure management, and that energy transmission losses in Kyrgyzstan can reach 20% in winter. Much of that loss traces back to the engineering oversight and quality assurance protocols used during construction, not to the pipes themselves.
The principle. Lifecycle cost, not construction price, is the measure that matters: independent supervision and strict materials quality control during construction are the cheapest maintenance a network will ever get.
The Swiss Methodology
At FORLOG AG, we advocate for the integration of Swiss engineering principles, specifically those outlined by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), into the FIDIC contractual frameworks commonly used by the World Bank and EBRD.
In practice it comes down to how the early phases are run:
- Pre-construction rigor: Spending 25% more time in the design and feasibility phase to eliminate conflicts before ground is broken.
- Material traceability: Implementing strict supply chain audits to ensure concrete grades, steel tensile strength, and pipe polymers meet the exact design specifications.
- Digital supervision: Using Building Information Modeling (BIM) for real-time construction monitoring as well as design, so supervisors catch deviations at the millimetre scale.
In Practice: Uzbekistan's Water Networks
FORLOG applies this methodology on live programmes. On the World Bank–financed Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement (WASIS) programme in Uzbekistan, where FORLOG's scope covered wastewater works in Karakalpakstan (Nukus, Taqiyatas and Xodjeyli), the discipline is the same: materials certification verified against design specifications, pressure-testing regimes enforced rather than assumed, and supervision records kept to the financier's documentation standards.
The payoff shows up in the asset register. Networks whose tested condition matches their documented condition, and defects surfaced during the notification period, while the contractor is still liable, rather than years later at the utility's expense.
Economic Impact
Building to these standards costs more upfront. The design phase runs longer, supervision is heavier, and materials testing is not a formality. What it buys is a network whose operating costs are known rather than discovered.
For government stakeholders and financiers, that changes what the procurement is actually selecting for. A tender awarded on construction price alone hands the operating risk to the utility, where it stays for the life of the asset.