Energy & Power

ASIA

Tajikistan Accuses Russian Aluminum Giant

EP Desk

Tajikistan has accused Russian aluminum giant OAO Rusal of stalling a US$1 billion (euro790 million) hydroelectric plant project that is crucial for the impoverished ex-Soviet republic's economic future.

Rusal had failed to fulfill even "a single point" of the contract that it had signed in 2004 to complete the construction of the Rogun power plant, Energy Minister Sherali Gulov said.

He also said that President Emomali Rakhmonov had decided "to build this power station without (Rusal's) help." He did not elaborate, and it was unclear if the contract with Rusal had been annulled.

Rusal spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina said the company has made every effort to fulfill its obligations under the contract and gave the Tajik government an update on its plans in October.

"We are still awaiting a response to that letter and are optimistic that we can begin construction on the hydroelectric plant soon, pending financing agreements with the government," she said.

Construction work has been held up due to disagreements between Rusal and the Tajik government over the size of the dam on the Vakhsh River, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Dushanbe.

Tajikistan had long sought an investor to complete the dam, whose construction was interrupted by the 1992-97 civil war.

The plant's completion would allow Tajikistan to sell a growing amount of electricity to neighboring China, as well as to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Once completed, the plant will produce 13.4 billion kilowatt-hours a year, according to the Energy Ministry.

The country's steep, fast-running mountain rivers have an overall potential hydropower capacity of 527 billion kilowatt hours a year -- the largest in the world, international experts estimate. The sale of hydropower would bring a substantial boon to the poor Central Asian nation, which is racked by rampant unemployment and a rising tide of drugs from neighboring Afghanistan.

An estimated 1 million of the country's 6 million people have left searching for jobs in Russia or other former Soviet republics.

Russia's Unified Energy Systems is involved in a US$480 million (euro363 million) project to complete another major hydroelectric plant in Tajikistan.