DUSHANBE, December 18, Asia-Plus — Andrei Rapoport, member of the board of Russia’s state-run electrical company Unified Electrical Systems (YeES), is arriving in Dushanbe today evening.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), the purpose of the visit is for the RAO YeES official to inspect a progress of construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station (HPS), construction of which is funded by the Russian state-run electrical company.
The source at a MoEI says a meeting that will be held on the site of the Sanuta-1 station with participation of officials responsible for construction of the plant is supposed to consider issues related to construction of the Sangtuda-1 plant and the date of introduction of its first unit into operation.
As it had been reported earlier, introduction of the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 power plant into operation, scheduled for December 21, will probably be postponed.
Nozirjon Yodgori, a spokesman fro Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding, said that introduction of the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPS will probably be postponed until late December, due to some technical problems. He refrained fro giving further details of the problems causing postponement.
Before that, the country’s energy authorities had repeatedly noted that the work on construction of the Sangtuda-1 power plant is carried out in accordance with schedule and the first unit will be introduced into operation on December 21.
Asia-Plus has failed to get information about reasons for postponement and the new date of introduction of the first unit of the plant into operation from top managers of open joint-stock company (OJSC) Sangtuda-1 HPS, which is constructing the facility.
The first generator with capacity of 220 kW was supposed to be put into operation by a Day of Power Engineering Specialists, which is marked in Tajikistan on December 22.
We will recall that Russia’s Unified Energy Systems (RAO YeES) is spending approximately $500 million to build Sangtuda-1, and the Russian entity retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which will generate a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum. The power station will have an estimated capacity of 670 MW – enough to meet Tajikistan’s domestic needs and allow for the export of electricity, namely to Afghanistan.
It is not the first visit of Rapoport to Tajikistan. He was in Tajikistan in April this year. He met with President Emomali Rahmon to discuss cooperation issues. Speaking to journalists after the meeting with the Tajik head of state, the RAO YeES official said that Tajikistan plans to hold an international tender to finish construction of the Roghun hydropower plant. Rapoport said that YeES believes that a Russian company should participate in the project and said that YeES would be willing to place a bid in the tender.
