DUSHANBE, June 10, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajik parliament speaker has offered his Uzbek counterpart to pass on to a constructive dialogue on the environmental situation in the region.
Mr. Shukurjon Zuhurov, Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament), has replied to Ms. Diloram Tashmukhamedova, Chairperson of the Legislative Chamber (Uzbekistan’s lower house of parliament), over Uzbekistan’s appeal to the United Nations regarding the environmental damage that allegedly comes from Tajik aluminum smelter.
In his message, Tajik parliament speaker, in particular, noted that Tajik parliamentarians are also worried about the environmental situation in the country, including border areas. Measures to provide environmental security in the area of the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) are under constant control of parliamentarians, the letter says.
Tajik parliament speaker also questioned methods of calculating the environmental damage from TALCO to Uzbekistan’s Surkhandaryo region.
According to him, the Tajik side could also present scientifically founded facts of environmental damage from Uzbek industrial enterprises to border areas in northern Tajikistan. “Large metallurgical works and heating and power stations located in Bekabad and Almalyk districts of Uzbekistan have polluted air atmosphere and water resources in Tajikistan for more than fifty years and the environmental damage from them has been calculated in hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars, but the main thing is that they seriously affect population’s health,” the letter said, noting that more than 600,000 people live in the territories undergoing the environmental damage from Uzbek industrial enterprises – Spitamen, Jabborasoulov, Mastchoh, Bobojonghafurov, Asht and Zafarobod districts in Sughd province.
“However, we suppose that mutual complaints will not help find solution to the environmental problems, and therefore we offer to pass on to a constructive dialogue to mutually find real ways of solving the arising problems.
“We could start this dialogue at the level of parliamentarians. For the purpose of giving an actual assessment of the environmental situation in the problem areas, we offer to set up inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation on the environmental protection issues with inviting independent international experts. Such a work will give our countries an opportunity to work out a common complex and reasonable approach to the issues of providing protection of the environment and rationally using natural resources.”
We will recall that Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN Dilyor Khakimov sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which was disseminated as a document of the UN General Assembly. The UN News Center said on June 7 that the letter draws attention to deterioration of the environmental situation in northern districts of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandaryo region, which borders Tajikistan and environmental damage caused to the area by Tajik aluminum plant.
It is not the first appeal by Uzbekistan to the United Nations over the alleged environmental damage from Tajik aluminum plant. In 2011, Uzbekistan has sent a protest letter to the United Nations complaining of the environmental damage from Tajik aluminum smelter. On September 6, 2011, the Uzbek Environmental Movement (UEM) handed over an appeal by residents of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandaryo region to the United Nations General Assembly to the UNDP CO in Uzbekistan.
The appeal that was reportedly signed by more than 757,000 residents of the Surkhandaryo region, in particular, says that people have experienced the catastrophic effects of pollution of the environment by the aluminum smelter in the neighboring Tajikistan for thirty-five years.
Besides, the Uzbek Environmental Movement, which has 15 seats in the Uzbek parliament, said in March 2010 that it has calculated the environmental damage from Talco to Uzbekistan”s Surkhandaryo region on the basis of research by Uzbek scientists. It claimed Talco is responsible for some $228 million in damage to four districts in the region.
TALCO, however, denied those statements as unfounded. TALCO top managers noted that they paid proper attention to investment in environment-friendly technology and implementation of environmental projects.
