The debt of Barqi Tojik (power holding (a national integrated power company of Tajikistan) to Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP), has risen 118.4 million somoni (equivalent to more than 12.5 million U.S. dollars) in three months to March 31, 2019, reaching 1.17 billion somoni (equivalent to about 110 million U.S. dollars).
According to press release issued by OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1, Sangtuda-1 has generated 612 million kWh of electricity over the first three months of this year, which was 7.2 million kWh more than in the same period last year.
Currently, Barqi Tojik is the only buyer of electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP, and over the same-three month period, Sangtuda-1 HPP has reportedly supplied 170.7 million somoni worth of electricity to Barqi Tojik. Meanwhile, an average monthly rate of payment for electricity generated by Sangtuda-1 HPP has not exceeded 31 percent over the report period, according to the Sangtudinskaya GES-1.
Recall, Tajik and Russian presidents officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.
Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant. Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.
Russia owns 75% percent of the shares minus one share and Tajikistan assumes the 25% ownership interest plus one share in Sangtudinskaya GES-1.
As of January 1, 2019, Barqi Tojik’s total debts amounted to 23.1 billion somoni (equivalent to about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars).
