DUSHANBE, December 5, 2013, Asia-Plus – On Thursday December 5, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $136 million grant, the largest single transaction ever provided by the institution to Tajikistan, for a project to increase supply of renewable energy to national and regional power systems.
According to the ADB Tajikistan Resident Mission (TJRM), the project will refurbish electric and mechanical equipment for power generation and transmission at the Golovnaya Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), situated 80 kilometers south of the capital Dushanbe. Its installed generation capacity is 240 megawatts (MW), which makes it the fourth largest hydropower plant in the country. The construction of the Golovnaya HPP started in 1956, and the first unit was commissioned in 1962.
“Most of the physical assets in the energy sector in Tajikistan were constructed during the Soviet era and need urgent rehabilitation and technological upgrade,” said C.C. Yu, ADB’s Country Director for Tajikistan. “ADB’s primary focus is to help improve the performance of the sector by rehabilitating physical infrastructure and helping reform the sector to make it more commercially viable.”
It is expected that after rehabilitation, which is due for completion in 2020, the generation capacity of the Golovnaya HPP will increase from 240 MW to 252 MW. On average, it will be able to produce 1,130 gigawatt-hours of electricity per annum from 743 gigawatt-hours generated in 2012.
The Government of Tajikistan will provide counterpart funding of $34 million. Barqi Tojik (state power utility) will be the executing agency for the project.
Tajikistan joined ADB in 1998 and, to date, the institution has approved total assistance of over $1.2 billion in concessional loans, grants, and technical assistance to the country. ADB’s operations benefit the population by reducing isolation, increasing communication, broadening access to electricity, improving social services, and creating more income-generating opportunities.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2012, ADB assistance totaled $21.6 billion, including cofinancing of $8.3 billion.
