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Uzbekistan’s state water utility Özsuvtaʼminot has disclosed the results of an internal anti-corruption drive that identified thousands of risk factors, billions of soums in irregular financial operations, and inflated construction costs across seven infrastructure sites.
The utility’s internal anti-corruption control service conducted 629 inspections, surfacing 5,670 separate factors capable of generating corrupt conduct. Corrective action was taken on financial operations collectively valued at 34 billion soums in which errors and shortcomings had been recorded.
A further audit of payment flows found 1,764 instances in which payments made by residential and commercial consumers had not been credited to the correct bank accounts, producing a discrepancy of 2.5 billion soums. Measures to recover and reconcile those sums have been put in place.
Across seven drinking-water and wastewater facilities, construction and installation costs had been inflated without justification by a combined 15 billion soums. The utility says the necessary corrections have been made.
Digital Tools and a Situational Centre
To systematise the detection and management of corruption risks, Özsuvtaʼminot has established what it calls a Situational Centre for Managing Corruption Risks. Separately, a platform branded Raqamli suv taʼminoti — Digital Water Supply — has been launched to digitise debt-collection processes; through the system, 140 billion soums in outstanding debts are being routed into online recovery procedures.
Planned Reforms
The utility has outlined three further steps. Modern remote-reading water meters are to be installed at all budget-funded institutions. A pilot programme will fit prepayment meters with remote data-transmission capability in residential buildings. And performance criteria — key performance indicators — tied to measurable outcomes are to be introduced for staff who work directly with the public, replacing less precise assessment methods.
The disclosures also noted that work on creating a corruption-free zone in Konimex district had been examined, and that discussions were held on broadening cooperation in the anti-corruption field, though no further details on either item were provided.