DUSHANBE, June 28, 2011, Asia-Plus — Those knowing hydropower engineering do not believe the myth spread by some Uzbek political circles that construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP) allegedly poses threat to the regional environmental balance and the Aral Sea, Tajik MP also leader of the Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT) Shodi Shabdolov told Asia-Plus Tuesday afternoon, commenting on a letter released by Tajik Ambassador/ Representative to the United Nations at the end of last week.
“Disagreements over the Roghun hydroelectricity project are politicized and they are actually struggle for controlling power markets of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and even Russia and China,” said Shabdolov, “It is plain to everyone that construction of the Roghun HPP will put an end to Uzbekistan’s monopoly in the regional power market because Central Asia’s nations, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Russia and China will prefer cheaper and ecologically pure hydropower from Tajikistan to expensive electricity generated by Uzbek combined heat and power (CHP) plants.”
According to Tajik MP, Uzbekistan’s proposal to build a nuclear power plant on Tajik territory in exchange for stopping construction of the Roghun HPP is absurd because today, the whole world is seeking shift to renewable sources of energy.
“While specialists in Japan do not know how to remove effects of the accident at Fukusima 1 nuclear power plant and Germany indents to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2020, our neighbor being seriously concerned about the environmental balance in the region proposes to build a nuclear power plant instead of the Roghun hydropower plant. It is nonsense,” Shabdolov noted.
According to him, Uzbek politicians must realize that not only Tajikistan will benefit from construction of the Roghun HPP, other countries of the region all also benefit from the Roghun hydroelectricity project, because the world will face acute oil and gas shortage in the coming 50 years.
“Uzbek specialists do not yet take into consideration that Afghanistan has not yet used waters of the rivers of Panj Amydarya for its needs, but there will come a day when it will demand its legal interest from the regional water resources. At that time, the cost of water of the Roghun reservoir that could be used in the future by Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will rise hundreds times,” Tajik MP said.
He also noted that Tajikistan also planned to construct a tunnel for transferring a part of waters of the Panj River to the Vakhsh River that would help fill the Roghun reservoir and provide downstream countries with irrigation water.
“As power engineering specialist and politician, I call on Uzbek authorities not to force an open door of Tajikistan. Our doors are always open to our neighbors,” Shabdolov added.
