DUSHANBE, June 11, Asia-Plus — The United Company Russian Aluminum (UC RUSAL) is continuing to negotiate with Tajik authorities on completing construction of the Roghun hydropower plant in Tajikistan.
Russia’s Itar-Tass quoted Valery Draganov, the RUSAL director for relations with state bodies, as saying, “We had to date invested enough funds in the project and consider that we can participate in its realization.”
According to presidential press service, the Roghun station problem was not discussed at a June 9 meeting of President Emomali Rahmon with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, in St. Petersburg.
We will recall that Sharifkhon Samiyev, head of Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding, announced in Dushanbe on April 26 that Tajikistan will break a US$1 billion contract with UC RUSAL for the hydropower plant Roghun, after continuing problems with the project.
The Roghun dam, crucial for Tajikistan, has been stalled from the outset by disputes between the Tajik Government and RUSAL. In January, the Tajik government accused the company of failing to fulfill the contract signed in October 2004.
Tajikistan originally signed an agreement with RUSAL to finish the project, but relations between the two partners have soured. According to Samiyev, the Tajik government now intends to create an international consortium to complete the project. Samiyev said, “There is a government decision to bar RUSAL from working in the country.” Samiyev noted, however, that other Russian companies could submit bids to join the planned consortium.
In the meantime, RUSAL’s local office in Dushanbe said the company remained committed to the dam. According to the RUSAL representative office, the company has to date invested some $50 million in the construction of the Roghun station in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan has long sought an investor to complete the Roghun dam on the Vakhsh River, some 120 kilometers east of Dushanbe. Construction was interrupted by the 1992-97 civil war. The Roghun station’s completion would will allow Tajikistan to resolve all domestic energy problems and to export electricity to neighboring countries.
