DUSHANBE, September 29, 2009, Asia-Plus — Countries that use waters from reservoirs of their neighbors must make contributions to maintenance of dams in the proper way, Kyrgyz expert, Professor Aydarbek Obozov, remarked at an international conference entitled “Use of Renewable Energy Resources in Central Asia” in Dushanbe today.
According to him, his country has many reservoirs keeping large reserves of water. “In some cases, these dams that are located in seismic zones and have not been repaired for many years may be destroyed causing environmental disaster in the region,” said Professor Obozov. “Our hydropower plants are currently in a poor state and need repairs. The threat of destruction of these dams cannot be ruled out.”
Kyrgyz expert noted that a number of countries, for example, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, were currently negotiating the possibility of making contributions for use of water from those reservoirs to support maintenance of dams. “In my opinion it would be fair if countries that cannot cope with keeping and supplying water think jointly with their neighbors about ways to maintain these facilities properly,” the Kyrgyz expert stressed.
It is to be noted that following the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant in Russia Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov has called for independent examination of two large hydroelectricity projects in the region – construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power station (HPS) in Tajikistan and the Kambarata HPS in Kyrgyzstan – in terms of ecological security. He also pointed to the necessity of assessment of hydropower plants that had been built on the Amy Darya and Syr Darya rivers in the Soviet time.
