DUSHANBE, August 31, Asia-Plus — Experts from international commission on big dams have seconded methodical documents of the project for construction of the Roghun dam 335 meters high, the commission vice-president Vadim Radchenko remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on August 31.
For his part, Homidjon Orifov, secretary of Tajikistan’s national commission on big dams, speaking to journalists, said that the Roghun dam will not pose any threat to the central Asian region. “Moreover, the type of dam proposed by us cannot affect management of water in the region and cause environmental damage,” Orifov said.
On the disagreements between the government of Tajikistan and Russian aluminum giant (Russian Aluminum or Rusal), Orifov reminded that Rusal had wanted to build a concrete dam some 285 meters high, which could “bring a certain danger”, while the Tajik government had said that the dam should be built of earth and rock and reach a height of 335 meters, which would be safer in this seismically active zone.
“Besides, the 285-meter dam would not allow regulating the reservoir powering the Roghun hydroelectric power station,” he said.
Orifov also stressed that Uzbekistan, impeding the construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power station (HPS), causes serious environmental damage to the trans-border rivers Syrdarya and Amudarya itself.
Radio Liberty reported that the 285-meter concrete dam proposed by Rusal would allow the facility to produce about 2,400 megawatts of electricity annually, while the 335-meter dam from earth and rock proposed by the Tajik side would allow to generate an extra 1,200 megawatts, for a total o 3,600 megawatts, due to the added height.
We will recall that the Tajik government on August 29 broke a $1 billion contract with Rusal for construction of the Roghun HPS on the Vakhsh River.
