DUSHANBE, March 16, Asia-Plus – Daily losses of the Sanoati Gushtu Shir (meat and milk industry) state unitary enterprise caused by power shortages amount to 35,000 somonis, the enterprise top manager Mahmadjon Davlatov said.
According to him, the Dushanbe dairy plant failed to process 20 tons of milk yesterday because of the power disruptions.
“Energy crisis may negatively impact enterprises producing basic food products,” said Davlatov, “Although Barqi Tojik power holding has promised us that the shortages will not affect the food industry enterprises, we have met with difficulties of electricity supplies.”
The Sanoati Gushtu Shir head noted that the most affected are diary enterprises. “The Dushanbe diary plant provides with its output some 75 percent of Tajikistan’s market and long electricity disruptions may cause deficiency of diary output on the market,” said Davlatov. However, he claims that it will not affect prices of output produced by the diary plant.
He also added that autonomous power resources of the plant are not quite powerful and not able to generate enough electricity.
Besides, the limited liability company Meat Products (meat cannery), which is also part of the Sanoati Gushtu Shir enterprise, is experiencing shortage of electrical power as well. According to him, the cannery is currently working not in full capacity because of the ongoing modernization. “One of European banks has provided a $1.075 million loan for modernization of the factory,” Davlatov said.
In the meantime, according to the Dushanbe mayor’s office, power shortages may lead to deficiency of bread products on markets of the capital city. The source at the Dushanbe mayor’s office said that some 90 percent of bread realized on the markets in Dushanbe is baked by bakeries run on electricity. “Therefore electricity supplies disruptions may possibly cause deficiency of bread products,” the source said, adding that municipal services are strictly controlling formation of prices on the markets.
Dushanbe is experiencing limits on electricity usage in connection with low water levels in the reservoir powering the Norak hydropower plant. Electricity supplies to some areas of Dushanbe have been considerably reduced. Besides, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have not been able to supply electricity to make up the deficit because unusually cold weather has led to a higher demand for power in those countries.
