DUSHANBE, November 9, 2009, Asia-Plus — Uzbekistan’s decision to pull out of Central Asia’s power grid may have grave consequences not only for Tajikistan, it may also have serious consequences for Uzbekistan itself, the head of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Energy, Industry and Construction, Mirzosharif Islomiddinov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, this decision of Uzbek authorities will make power interchange between the two countries impossible.
“If Tajikistan and Uzbekistan come to an agreement, it will be possible to provide Turkmen electricity deliveries to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems even if Uzbekistan withdraws from the Central Asian power grid,” MP said.
He noted that Central Asia could face water shortage problems in the summer. “Under the circumstances, Tajikistan is forced to use its water reserves to produce additional energy due to a deficit of electricity,” said Islomiddinov, “Using water to produce electricity, in turns, can lead to a water deficit in Uzbekistan in the summer because in the summer, we will fill our reservoirs with water.”
We will recall that Uzbekistan plans to pull out of the Central Asian power grid on December 1 this year
