OJSC NBO Roghun administration is seeking new financing sources for completion of construction of the Roghun hydropower plant.
Citing director general of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) NBO Roghun Khairullo Safarzoda, Sadoi Mardum newspaper, an official mouthpiece of Tajik parliament, says OJSC NBO Roghun now owes more than 1 billion somoni (equivalent to 103 million U.S. dollars) to domestic and foreign contracting companies as well as supplies of gods and service.
In a statement released at the latest session of Tajikistan’s upper house (Majlisi Milli) of parliament, Safarzoda noted that funds earned from selling government bonds (Eurobonds) had been completely spent.
According to him, stable financing is needed for further construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
Amendments made to the law on privatization of state-owned property are expected to help the government attract investments, including the foreign ones, for completion of construction of the Roghun HPP.
Top manager of OJSC NBO Roghun proposes to sell part of assets of the company placed in other regions of the country “because intended use of them is not possible.”
Maintenance of these assets increases expenses and affects the company’s financial activities, Safarzoda added.
According to the State Committee on Investment and State-owned Property (GosKomInvest), NO Roghun’s authorized now amounts to 27 billion somoni, with 97.1 percent of shares (more than 26.9 billion somoni) belonging to the government and 2.9 percent of shares (799,900 somoni) belonging to legal and physical entities
Tajikistan founded OJSC NBO Roghun with an authorized capital of 116 million somoni for completing the construction of the Roghun HPP in April 2008 after it formally revoked a contract with Russia's RusAl aluminum company for the construction of the Roghun HPP in August 2007. The Tajik government accused the Russian company of failing to fulfill the contract signed in 2004. Tajik authorities and RusAl became bogged down in the hydroelectric plant’s dam model and height, crucial factors in its capacity.
To raise funds to complete construction of the Roghun HPP the government started to sell shares in Roghun to people on January 6, 2010. Tajikistan has reportedly issued 6 billion somoni worth of 5 million Roghun shares.
They have reportedly sold little more than 1.8 million shares, while the remaining more than 3 million shares are kept at local banks.
2.2 billion U.S. dollars are reportedly needed for completion of the construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant.
Recall, deputies of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament) on January 16 voted for enhancement of amendments proposed by the government to the country’s law on privatization of state-owned properties that will allow foreign investors to buy shares in the Roghun hydroelectric plant, an ongoing project upon which the government has pinned the nation’s future.
Other facilities now also liable for privatization include the Talco aluminum company, the country’s most important industrial concern, and the Soviet-built Nurek hydropower plant, which provides for 70 percent of Tajikistan’s electricity.
