DUSHANBE, September 19, 2012, Asia-Plus — Today, some 90 percent of Tajikistan population has electricity only three hours per day during autumn-winter period, while residents of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) now have electricity practically day and night irrespective of the season.
President Emomali Rahmon noted this on September 19 during an address to a meeting of the GBAO regional administrators in the city of Khorog, regional center.
He noted that districts in Gorno Badakhshan, except the Murgab district and the Bartang Valley in the Rushan district, did not have any serious electricity supply problems.
Rahmon pointed to the necessity of constructing small hydroelectric power plants in Darvoz, Vanj and Murgab districts.
The president noted that Tajik geologist have explored more than 50 deposits of precious metals and precious stone in Gorno Badakhshan in recent years. “Development of these deposits will require large amounts of energy and we must be ready for this,” the president stressed.
On the development of the region’s agrarian sector, the head of state noted that local farmers now provided the region with potatoes and meats by themselves. Rahmon, however, said that adequate measures should be taken to develop new lands in the region.
He also called on local entrepreneurs to invest in development of industrial sector. “According to the statistical data, there are more than 41,000 school students in Gorno Badakhshan, but the region itself does not produce any shirt for them,” said the president. “Your region borders China, where you could purchase sewing equipment at a profitable price.”
