DUSHANBE, March 12, 2010, Asia-Plus — According to an article “Iranian Interests in CIS” by Ilgar Velizade, posted on
www.Kreml.org
on March 10, Tajik Minister of Energy and Industries Gul Sherali stated at the 17th international conference on Central Asia and Caucasus that international assessment study for the Roghun hydroelectricity project is unnecessary.
Tajik minister stated that the project is being implemented with support from international financial institutions that prepare impartial opinion letter and there is no need for international assessment study for the Roghun HPP, the article said.
Gul Sherali said at the conference that Tajikistan is currently exploring local oil-and-gas deposits and possible reserves are enough to meet domestic requirements.
He also noted that Tajikistan’s population is not yet able to purchase electricity at international prices and the volume of electric power consumed by the population is much lower than the volume of electricity generated by Tajik power plants. Tajikistan has been unable to export surplus electricity due to lack of interstate power transmission lines.
According to him, China has already launched the project for construction of a number of power transmission lines. To export surplus electricity after introduction of the Roghun and Sangtuda stations into operation, Tajikistan has signed memoranda with Iran and Pakistan on construction of the electricity transmission lines “Roghun-Heart-Mashhad” and “Roghun-Sangtuda-Kunduz-Puli Khumr-Kabul Peshawar,” according to the article.
We will recall that the 17th International Conference on Central Asia and Caucasus took place in Tehran on March 8-9. The conference focused on energy, water, food, transportation and fields for cooperation and convergence in the Central Asia and Caucasus areas.
