DUSHANBE, December 28, Asia-Plus – Rashid Gulov, an official with Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding, said that an agreement was reached yesterday in Tashkent on supply of Uzbek electricity to Tajikistan in January-March 2007.
According to him, a Tajik energy delegation led by Energy and Industry Minister Sherali Gulov was in Tashkent to negotiate electricity supplies from Uzbekistan.
Under a deal reached in Tashkent on December 27 Uzbekistan will supply to Tajikistan 600 million kWh of electrical power over the report three-month period. For its part, Tajikistan will export 900 million kWh of electricity to the neighboring republic next summer in exchange for this amount of electricity.
The Barqi Tojik official noted that the prices have remained the same. “Uzbek authorities charge Tajikistan for electricity supplies 1.5 cent for each kWh of electricity, and Tajikistan will supply to Uzbekistan 900 million kWh of electricity in the summer at the rate of 1.0 cent per each kWh,” Gulov said.
According to him, the Tajik delegation also negotiated the delivery of Kyrgyz electricity to Tajikistan through Uzbekistan. However, the sides have failed to reach a consensus on that issue. He added that talks will continue and expressed hope that the issue will be resolved in the near future.
The Ministry of Energy and Industry (MoEI) said that under the preliminary agreement reached earlier this year Kyrgyzstan is due to export 1.8 billion kWh of electricity to Tajikistan. A source at a MoEI said that a volume of electricity supplied from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will be enough to support electricity supplies to the regions until mid-March.
We will recall that Kyrgyz MFA official, Jyldyz Sarybayeva, stated in late November that that under the deal Kyrgyzstan should have started supplying electricity to Tajikistan on October 1 but Tashkent had denied Kyrgyzstan permission to deliver the electricity through its territory.
Tajikistan introduces electricity rationing in the autumn-winter period following a decline in the water level in the country’s reservoirs powering the main hydroelectric power stations. During this period, the country imports electricity from neighboring Uzbekistan in exchange of electrical power delivered to Uzbekistan in the summer.
