In his address to a joint meeting of both chambers of parliament, President Emomali Rahmon said on December 28 that the next unit of the Roghun hydropower plant is planned to be introduced into operation in 2025.
He noted that currently 15,000 workers and specialists are working at the site for construction of the Roghun hydropower plant, using 3,500 various equipment.
At the same time, the president emphasized that there are 5,000 workers missing.
“For the timely implementation of the project, 20,000 workers are currently needed,” Rahmon said, noting that 5 billion somonis (equivalent to US$456 million) were channeled to the Roghun project this year.
Recall, a loan agreement between the Government of Tajikistan and the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) on financing the Roghun Hydroelectric Power Project (HPP), in particular, says the total cost of the construction of the Roghun hydropower plant is 6 billion US dollars and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2031.
The Roghun HPP is one of the largest projects in the region that can become an important factor of development of Tajikistan and the Central Asian region as a whole. It will contribute significantly to the country’s sustainable development by efficiently utilizing natural resources, including “green” energy.
To complete the construction of the Roghun hydropower plant, Tajikistan founded OJSC NBO Roghun in April 2008 after it formally revoked a contract with Russia's RusAl aluminum company in August 2007. 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 somonis worth of 5 million Roghun shares.
In 2016, construction duties on Roghun were assigned to Italian company Salini Impregilo (currently Webuild).
Two of the six turbines have already started producing energy for sale to raise funding to complete it. The first turbine went into service in November 2018 and the second one was introduced into operation in September 2019.
To-date, spending on the construction of the Roghun hydropower plants has reportedly exceeded 40 billion somonis since 2008.
If built as planned, the Roghun hydropower plant is expected to end chronic power shortages in Tajikistan and allow it to export electricity to neighboring countries.
