Barqi Tojik’s debt to Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP), has reportedly reached 2,007,330,191 somonis (equivalent to about 180 million U.S. dollars).
According to OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1, the rate of payment for the supplied electricity over the first ten months of this year has been only about 40 percent.
Recall, OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 seeks an opportunity to sell electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP itself.
The company has repeatedly raised the issue of increasing the supply of electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP and independently exporting it at different levels.
A representative of OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 told Asia-Plus in an interview that according to the agreements concluded, the company has the right “to sell electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP in accordance with direct contracts and export it by itself.”
These rights are reportedly enshrined in a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Russia on a procedure and conditions for joint participation in construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP and in a government-to-government agreement on operation of this hydropower plant.
Meanwhile, according to data from the Tax Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 is one of the largest tax debtors. As of November 1, 2021, the company’s tax debts have reportedly amounted to 170 million somonis (equivalent to 15 million U.S. dollars).
Tax debts have been generated due to incomplete payment by Barqi Tojik to OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 for the current supply of electricity.
In the current year, the rate of the collection of funds for electricity consumption has reportedly not exceeded 38 percent.
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.
The Sangtuda-1 HPP was officially commissioned on July 31, 2009. The plant now reportedly provides around 15% of Tajikistan’s electricity output.
