TAJIKSTAN: Tajikistan and Russia launch joint hydro-electric project near Dushanbe

Record ID: 872718

  • Title: TAJIKSTAN: Tajikistan and Russia launch joint hydro-electric project near Dushanbe
  • Date: 18th December 2006
  • Summary: BULLDOZERS AT EXPLOSION SITE DAMMING UP RIVER VARIOUS OF DAMMING UP PROJECT IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location:
  • City:
  • Country:
  • Topics: International Relations,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA9V532NILV33LNQ6AARZZJRHQ9
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Tajikistan, hit by severe power shortages, started damming a major mountain river on Friday (December 15) to build a new hydroelectric plant as it seeks to secure steady energy supplies.
    The USD500 million, 670 megawatt Sangtuda-1 plant, which Tajikistan is building with Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES), is due to start producing electricity next year and reach full capacity in 2009.
    After watching engineers use a series of landmine explosions to block the Vakhsh river, Tajik president Imomali Rakhmonov, said the plant would help Tajikistan cover its domestic energy deficit,
    The mountainous former Soviet nation, which has some of the world's largest hydro resources, has long experienced electricity shortages.
    "I have promised the president of Tajikistan, and the president of Russia that our objective will be to complete this project in record time. I have mentioned four years, and we hope to complete the work by April 15, 2009," said Anatoly Chubias, head of Russia's electricity monopoly, Unified Energy System (UES).
    This year shortages were particularly severe due to supply disruptions at the key Soviet-era Nurek hydro plant, also situated on the Vakhsh river, which supplies most of the country's electricity.
    The shortage has caused blackouts across the impoverished Muslim nation, which borders Afghanistan.
    Tajikistan's electricity-heavy Tajik Aluminium Smelter, which accounts for two-thirds of the country's hard currency earnings, has not been affected by the shortages, officials said.
    The Sangtuda plant will produce 2.7 billion kilowatt hours a year after it reaches full capacity, officials said. A UES subsidiary will own 75 percent of the plant, and the Tajik government will control the rest.
    Experts believe Tajikistan has the potential to produce up to 520 billion kWh a year.
    The country is still recovering from civil war in the 1990s, which ruined its economy and left 100,000 people dead.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register