Kyrgyzstan, a country perpetually battling a shortage of water resources, is reportedly irked by neighbour Uzbekistan’s “grandiose hydropower development plans”. The issue has come to the fore this week with Uzbekistan’s launching of the construction of six hydroelectric power plants (HPPs), with a combined capacity of 228 megawatts, on the Naryn River in Namangan region, bordering western Kyrgyzstan. The Times of Central Asia on March 27 reported irritation in Kyrgyzstan, noting that the country’s water deficit is in part caused by its swapping of water with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in excha…