DUSHANBE, January 26, 2009, Asia-Plus — Negotiations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on resumption of Turkmen electricity deliveries to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems will resume within the next few days, Deputy Energy and Industries Minister, Poulod Muhiddinov, announced at a press conference in Dushanbe today.
According to him, a government delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon will be sent to Tashkent this week.
The deputy minister reminded that an agreement on delivery of Turkmen electrical power to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems was reached in Almaty, Kazakhstan last October. Under this agreement, Turkmenistan was supposed to supply electrical power to Tajikistan from November 1, 2008 to May 1, 2009 at the rate of 200 million kWh per month. However, Uzbekistan interrupted Turkmen electricity deliveries to Tajikistan on January 1 this year.
“To negotiate the issue of resumption of Turkmen electricity deliveries to Tajikistan a delegation of Tajik power engineering specialists met with their Uzbek counterparts in Tashkent in early January,” said Muhiddinov, “However, the sides failed to solve the issue. The Uzbek side motivated interruption of delivery of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan by malfunction in the Uzbek Qaraqul substation, which is used for Turkmen power deliveries to Tajikistan. The Uzbek side refused our proposal to visit the substation to get acquainted with the problems and assist with making repairs to it as far as possible.”
“It is to be noted that earlier, representatives from Uzbek energy holding, Uzbekenergo, noted that they will not interrupt the Turkmen power deliveries to Tajikistan if Tajikistan signs an agreement with Uzbekistan on natural-gas imports for 2009 at the rate of 240 US dollars per 1,000 cubic meters. However, although the agreement setting this price was singed on December 31, Uzbek power autorities interrupted Turkmen electricity deliveries to Tajikistan on January 1 2009, breaking their word,” the deputy minister said.
Muhiddinov further noted that if the Qaraqul substation was really out of order they could use a 220-kilovolt substation for power deliveries to Tajikistan.
We will recall that Tajik and Uzbek engineers negotiated revival of a regional power grid linking Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan at talks in Tashkent in March 2006 already. They considered issues related to rehabilitation of a 500-kilovolt power transmission line with a total length of about 370 kilometers, linking the Turkmen Mary power station with the Uzbek Qaraqul substation that could then be used for power imports to Tajikistan.
Muhiddinov stressed that Tajikistan was not in debt to Uzbekistan for electricity. “On contrary, Uzbekenergo now owes 4 million US dollars to Tajikistan and this issue is also expected to be discussed at the upcoming talks in Tashkent,” he said.
