The Sardoba reservoir has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Water Resources, the spokesman to the Ministry of Water Management Shukhrat Suyunov said.

Previously, the construction was operated by the Directorate for the Use and Development of Sardoba Reservoir Facilities under the Uzbekistan Railways.

The reservoir has already accumulated 218 million cubic meters of water, and by May 1, its volume is planned to reach 350 million cubic meters (the hydraulic structure is designed for 974 million cubic meters of water).

According to Shukhrat Suyunov, the planned construction work is underway at the facility, and it is being operated with ensuring security. “The expenses are fully covered by the national budget,” he said.

foreign and domestic specialists, as well as designers with extensive experience have been attracted the reconstruction of the reservoir which bursted in May last year.

The Kazakh authorities, in particular, have been familiarized with the reconstruction work. On February 17-21, experts from Kazakhstan visited the reservoir and returned with a positive conclusion, a ministry spokesman said.

“Of course, this process will be carried out in agreement with the population of the Syrdarya and Jizzakh provinces, deputies and provinces’ leaders,” he added.

On Monday, the Ministry of Construction announced that technical solutions aimed at preventing emergencies at the reservoir in the future are being worked out jointly with foreign experts, including the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. Engineering and survey work is carried out by UzGASHKLITI together with Russian experts.

According to the Ministry of Construction, the flow of water during the collapse of the dam in the PK-60 section caused destruction in other sections of the dam. It is planned to eliminate these shortcomings and temporarily restore the partial operation of the reservoir.

As part of the restoration work, a project was developed, agreed with the designers of JSC "Hydroproject" and specialists of the Moscow University, according to which the state examination issued an expert opinion No. 4-E on February 12.

The project provides for the following works:

• temporary construction of a dam (bulkhead), i.e., fencing of the destroyed section of PK-60;
• construction and restoration of piezometers;
• restoration of the lower slopes of the dam, washed out by the flow of water;
• restoration of closed drainage systems washed out by the current;
• reconstruction of storm water drainage facilities and construction of drainage trays in front of them.

The Sardoba reservoir was built in accordance with government decree No. 97 of 2010 on the territory of Sardoba, Mirzaabad and Khavast districts. The cost of construction as of January 1, 2017 amounted to over 1.306 trillion soums (404.4 million dollars at the Central Bank rate at that time) from the state budget.

Within the framework of the criminal case on the fact of the state of emergency, a group of officials of the Sirdaryo Suv Qurilish Invest State Unitary Enterprise (customer), UzGip LLC (designer), Uztemiryulkurilishmontazh UE (general contractor), contractors of Rezaksoy Suv Qurilish UE, were involved as defendants, Omad Double LLC, Sariosiyo Qurilish LLC, Trans Service Complex LLC, Tupalang Sherobod JV, as well as the Ministry of Water Resources and the Directorate for the operation of the reservoir. The trial began behind closed doors on December 21.