The Syrdarya region has a dry continental climate, and in most of the target villages there is no centralised water supply at all — households draw from local sources. The World Bank's WASIS loan exists, in the ToR's words, “to improve the coverage, quality and efficiency of water and sanitation services in the selected project areas” and to strengthen the sector's institutions.

The investment is unglamorous and substantial: on the order of a hundred new wells, more than a hundred water towers and over 400 km of pipelines across the Sirdaryo, Gulistan and Sayxunobod districts and Yangiyer city. Several schemes from the original feasibility study had already been built by the time the consultancy started, so the inception phase re-scoped the village list with the client.

One consultant team takes the schemes from feasibility review through detailed design, bidding documents, and then supervision of the works — through commissioning and the defect liability period.

• Review the feasibility study to find its gaps before design work starts
• Hydraulic modelling and GIS of the supply systems
• Detailed engineering design and bidding documents, with topographic, geological and other surveys
• Procurement assistance and support to the PMU through bidding, plus environmental and social safeguards documentation
• Design (author’s) supervision in all three districts and Yangiyer city, per Uzbek legislation
• Construction supervision of the works contracts — contract management, quality control, cost and progress control
• Services during commissioning and the defect liability period

“The Consultant shall maintain sufficient personnel on the construction site at all times, with a clear assignment of duties, to supervise the daily progress of the construction work.”