DUSHANBE, November 2. 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik specialists are surprised at an article by V. Ahmadjonov, the deputy head of the water resource balance and water-saving technologies department of the Uzbek Ministry of Water Economy, posted on the Uzbek MFA website, in which he claims that recent statements by Tajik officials about terms of the filling of the Roghun dam with water are baseless and aimed at misleading Tajik people and international community.
Tajik expert Mirzosharif Islomiddinov says he is surprised at a stink raised by Uzbek authorities over the Roghun hydroelectricity project when Tajikistan agreed to suspend construction work at the Roghun site until the techno-economic, the environmental and social impact assessments for theproject are completed.
“At present only recovery operations are being carried out at the site,” said Islomiddinov, “Specialists are currently rehabilitating the powerhouse hall and tunnels that had been damaged in the early 1990s. No large scale construction work is being carried out there now. Tajikistan planned to block the Vakhsh River to further the construction of the Roghun station in October last year already but the operation was postponed until the end of this year. Later, Tajik authorities decided to set the date for the blocking of the river only after completion of the techno-economic, the environmental and social impact assessments for the Roghun hydroelectricity project.”
Islomiddinov considers that Uzbek authorities ought to refrain making any conclusions over Roghun’s construction, until the assessments for the project are completed.
