DUSHANBE , February 7, Asia-Plus - A high-ranking official Iranian delegation comprising Majlis (Iranian parliament) Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and Energy Minister Said Parviz Fattah will arrive in Tajikistan to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant set for February 20.  

Firdavs Safarov, an expert with Tajik Energy Ministry, has told Asia-Plus that top managers of Iranian company “Farab”, including its director general Haji Rasuliyan, that will construct the station are also supposed to join Tajik and Iranian officials at the groundbreaking ceremony.  

Besides, top manager of the Russian federal company “Unified Energy System” (FSK YeES) Andrey Rappoport is also expected to attend the ceremony.  

Tajik Energy Minister, Jurabek Nurmahmadov, today made a fact-finding trip to the site for the Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant.  The minister visited the site for the purpose of familiarizing himself with a progress of preparations for the beginning of the construction of the plant.       

As it had been reported earlier, upon implementation of the Sangtuda-2 project, the proprietorship of Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant will be transferred to Tajikistan in 12.5 years after the station is put into operation.  Once the power station is built, all the revenue over the next 12.5 years will go to the investor.  Under protocol signed in Dushanbe in January last year Iran will complete the construction of Sangtuda-2 station in Tajikistan .  On June 11, 2005 , Tajik Energy Minister, Jurabek Nurmahmadov and his Iranian counterpart, Habibullah Bitaraf, signed in Tehran a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Sungtuda-2 power plant.  The dam and power station will cost US$220 million in total, of which 180 million dollars will be financed by Iran under a 10-year loan with a five-percent interest rate.  In addition, US$40 million will be extended by Tajikistan .