DUSHANBE, March 19, 2013, Asia-Plus – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan has denied information that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive in Tajikistan this month as unfounded.
“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not visit Tajikistan this month, he will pay a visit to Tajikistan in April,” The Tajik MFA information department head Davlat Nazriyev told Asia-Plus in an interview on March 19.
Meanwhile, Iranian diplomatic mission in Dushanbe says the Iranian president’s visit to Tajikistan scheduled for March 25-26 has been postponed. “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Emomali Rahmon will meet in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan where they will attend the International Navrouz Celebrations,” a source at the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe said.
The presidents will hold talks in Ashgabat and it will be clear after that meeting when Iranian president will pay visit to Tajikistan, the source added.
We will recall that Iranian news agency, Fars News Agency (FNA), on March 18 quoted Poulod Muhiddinov, First Deputy Minister of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan, as saying that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will unveil the second and the last unit of the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) on March 21 this year.
The Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) has denied the report released by FNA as baseless. “Introduction of the second unit of the Sangtuda-2 HPP into operation is still out of question. When the date for introduction of the second unit into operation will be determined, we will release official information,” the MoEI press center noted.
The first unit of the plant was introduced into operation on September 5, 2011. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended a joint ceremony to unveil the Sangtuda-2 dam and power plant.
Construction of Sangtuda-2, a 220-megawatt plant on the Vakhsh River, officially commenced in February 2006. It is located some 120 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe.
Iran, which has invested some 180 million U.S. dollars in the construction of the hydropower station, will operate it for the next 12 years and then transfer control to Tajikistan, whose contribution to the construction costs amounted to around 40 million U.S. dollars.
The power plant is expected to help alleviate power shortages in Tajikistan during autumn-winter period.
