DUSHANBE, December 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — The government has given a 10.5 million somoni (equivalent to more than 2.4 million U.S. dollars) credit to Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding for financing construction of the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plant (HPP), according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The source at a MoF says the loan that is provided for 1.5 years bears no interest rate. “Under the schedule, the Tajik side was supposed to invest 12 million U.S. dollars in the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectricity project this year; a half of this amount should have been paid by Barqi Tojik and the remainder should have been provided from the national budget,” the source said.
The national budget has allocated some US$6 million for the Sangtuda-2 project this year and since the beginning of the project, the Tajik side has invested 26 million U.S. dollars in construction of the station, he said.
We will recall that Tajikistan and Iran signed a protocol for Iran to construct a 220MW Sangtuda-2 hydropower station on the Vakhsh River in Dushanbe on January 12, 2005. During President Rahmon’s visit to Iran in January 2006, a number of agreements providing for Iranian assistance for several Tajik infrastructure projects, including construction of the Sangtuda-2 HPP, were signed. The budget for implementation of the project is 220 million U.S. dollars and Tajik government’s contribution to the project is 40 million U.S. dollars. The Sangtuda-2 HPP was scheduled to become operational by 2012 but Tajik officials wanted it to be inaugurated sooner than schedule and now it is expected to be introduced into operation in 2011.
The construction of the Sangtuda-2 station officially commenced in February 2006. Iranian company Sangab has been building the Sangtuda-2 dam. Once the power station is built, all the revenue over the next 12.5 years will go to the investor and Tajikistan will become the owner of Sangtuda-2 after this period expires.
