On Thursday, May 17, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met in China’s capital, Beijing, with Mr. Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
According to the Tajik president’s official website, the parties discussed issues related to expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and this international financial institution.
Rahmon reportedly called the AIIB a reliable partner of Tajikistan and expressed confidence that the results of the meeting would give a new impetus to the process of expansion of the cooperation.
The parties exchanged views on strengthening cooperation in the direction of further financing of the development of “green infrastructure” in the fields of transport, energy, housing and communal services, and municipality.
It was considered necessary to enhance relations, attract more capital to priority projects for the development of infrastructure, industry, private sector, increase economic activity and business support.
In particular, during the meeting, Mr. Jin announced the allocation of preferential funds in the amount of 500 million US dollars for the implementation of the Roghun hydropower project.
Besides, the parties reportedly named the issues of financing projects of final processing of agricultural products and minerals among other sectors of cooperation, at the same time emphasizing that Tajikistan has all the possibilities and resources for their implementation.
During the meeting, a useful discussion was also held on the global situation with climate change, lack of drinking water, the impact of these factors on the economy of countries, and Tajikistan’s global initiatives on water and climate and protection of glaciers.
Recall, Tajikistan founded OJSC NBO Roghun with an authorized capital of 116 million somonis 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.
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).
The project is broken down into four components, with the most expensive one involving the building of a 335-meter-high clay core rockfill dam — the tallest in the world — which will entail costs of around $1.95 billion. Construction of the Roghun hydropower plant is expected to be completed in 2033.
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.
The Ministry of Finance noted in early August last year that 37.7 billion somonis have been spent for construction of this hydropower plant since 2008.
In his address to a joint meeting of parliament, President Emomali Rahmon said on December 23 last year that the construction activities at the site for construction of the Roghun hydropower plant are ongoing dynamically. To this end TJS3.2 billion (equivalent to 315 million U.S. dollars) were channeled in 2022.
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.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world’s second largest multi-lateral development institution. The bank currently has 106 members, including 14 prospective members from around the world.
The Bank was proposed by China in 2013 and the initiative was launched at a ceremony in Beijing in October 2014. It received the highest credit ratings from the three biggest rating agencies in the world, and is seen as a potential rival to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
