DUSHANBE, February 4, 2010, Asia-Plus — Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov is currently studying his Uzbek counterpart’s letter calling for conducting independent assessment of the Roghun project, Davlat nazriyev, head of the Tajik MFA information department said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, Tajik officials will respond to the Uzbek prime minister’s letter in the near future. Tajikistan is always ready for constructive dialogue with the neighboring country on all issues being of mutual interest,” Nazriyev said.
In the meantime, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on February 3 that academician Sobit Nematulloyev, a prominent Tajik seismologist, dismissed Tashkent”s warning that the Roghun power plant is located in an area with a track record of “several major earthquakes of up to magnitude 10.0 as “baseless.” “We have been studying the issue for years. Experts have investigated and approved it,” Nematulloyev said. “They have only concluded that the situation has to be monitored all the time. [Uzbekistan”s] allegation about earthquake track records is a lie.” “There was a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Hoit district once. We can”t stop building the plant because there was one 6.0 earthquake in the area.”
Yarash Pulovod, the head of Tajikistan”s Water and Irrigation Institute, told RFE/RL that Tajikistan had already conducted a painstaking scientific study of the situation around the Roghun project, “taking into consideration environmental, seismology, water and other issues.” “For Uzbekistan, it is a political issue,” he said.
