DUSHANBE, December 2, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik Railways intends to allocate 10 million U.S. dollars to buy shares in open joint stock company (OJSC) Roghun HPP.
The source at Tajik Railways added that the company would also allocate 1 million somoni to help complete the construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
As it had been reported earlier, President Emomali Rahmon ordered relevant bodies to take measures to ensure issuance of the Roghun shares until the end of this year and Tajik lawmakers have expanded the effort by calling on people to buy shares in Roghun that are expected to be made available for trading on the country”s stock market in 2010.
We will recall that speaking at the 22nd session of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) of the third convocation, the Majlisi Milli Speaker, Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, said on November 19 that some 2.143 million people are currently working in different sectors of economy and an average monthly wage is now 314 somoni. “The government could raise some 154 million U.S. dollars for construction of the Roghun HPP if they give up their one-month’s wages.” That would add to the $130 million the Tajik government has already allocated to fund Roghun”s construction in its 2010 budget.
Minister of Finance Safarali Najmiddinov told Asia-Plus on November 23 that they are currently choosing a country, in which the shares will be printed. However, the minister added that it could not be ruled out that the shares would be printed in Tajikistan itself. “We have all necessary equipment for this,” he stressed. Najmiddinov noted that the face value of share was expected to be 100 somoni.
According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), some 770 million U.S. dollars are needed to introduce the first line (two units) of the station into operation. While an estimated $3 billion would be needed to complete the project as originally envisioned, with all six generating units. Tajik authorities consider that two units can be completed over the next five years using domestic funds.
