DUSHANBE, July 16, 2012, Asia-Plus — Exclusively recovery work is currently being carried out at the site for construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant, Nourali Saidov, deputy director of the Agency fro Construction and Architecture, told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon, commenting on a statement released by Uzbekistan.
We will recall that Uzbekistan claims that Tajikistan is continuing construction of the Roghun HPP despite commitments Tajikistan made to the World Bank.
“Exclusively recovery work is being carried out there and no new facilities are being built,” Saidov said, noting that independent experts hired by the World Bank are working a the Roghun site along with builders.
“The work on repeated concreting of two spillway tunnels is under way. This work requires a lot of time and a good deal of money,” said Saidov. “This work will scarcely be completed this year.”
According to him, equipment for two units of the plant has practically already been delivered to Tajikistan. “The remaining unit parts are being delivered to the country by planes and trucks,” Saidov said, adding that more than 8,000 builders now work a the site for construction of the Roghun plant.
The construction of Rogun HPP was begun in 1980 during the Soviet Union, but stalled in the 1990s for lack of funds. Currently most of the site preparation works about 70% of the underground works (access tunnels, penstocks, diversion and outlet tunnels, chambers for turbines/generators and transformers) have reportedly been completed.
The Roghun HPP would have a reservoir with multi-year regulation mode with a dam height of 335 m, located on the Vaksh River. The reservoir would have a total storage volume of 13 km3; a live storage of 8.6 km3, and would likely extend upstream over a distance of about 70 km. The installed capacity is proposed to be 6×600 MW (totaling 3,600 MW) and the annual power generation would be 13,300 GWh. Despite significant storage, the Roghun HPP was expected to produce electricity in Tajikistan and develop irrigation in the region. The majority of the electricity to be produced by Roghun HPP is expected to be exported.
In view of the size of investments needed, The Roghun HPP would need significant private/foreign investment and but also requires the Government to play a key role, in view of the existing assets and the necessity to take responsibility for environmental, social, resettlement and riparian issues, and also for establishing the export markets (which are to be underpinned by inter-governmental agreements). The Government intends to establish an International Consortium of investors and financiers for the development of the Roghun HPP.
