DUSHANBE, November 1, Asia-Plus - Nobody has canceled the agreement with the Russian company Russky Alluminiy (Russian Aluminum or RusAl) to complete construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power station, Deputy Energy Minister, Pulod Muhiddinov, said at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 31. 

He said the agreement signed between the Tajik government and RusAl in Dushanbe in October 2004 has 13 provisions and determines the terms of implementation of the project’s stages. ”If the terms of the agreement are not observed, we may review the agreement,” the Tajik energy official said. 

Muhiddinov noted that Tajikistan insists on the construction of the 335-metre-high fill dam.  The design for the dam has successfully passed all tests for efficiency and profitability, he said. 

In the meantime, the feasibility study conducted at the request of RusAl by Germany’s Lehmeyer International is based on the design for a hydropower plant with a 285-metre-high fill dam and another location of the generators’ room, according to the Tajik official.  “While the generators’ room had been constructed in the Soviet Union time already.  “The generators’ room was constructed inside the mountain and that is its uniqueness” Muhiddinov said.  

According to him, they expect that the review of the feasibility study will be finished in November or December. ”I believe we will finally reach consensus,” the deputy energy minister said, stressing that there are different methods for construction of such large facilities, in particular, by attracting preferential loans, sharing funds on the construction or by the method of bioti (phonetically spelled).       

 ”The government, the energy ministry and its sub-divisions agree to the method of bioti, under which investor keeps the profits from the completed facility for a certain period, after which it will become customer’s property” Muhiddinov said. ”On the Roghun project, we may possibly try this method.”

He noted that Tajikistan’s agreement with RusAl concerns the first stage of the construction of the Roghun station. The agreement projects expenditures of US $400 million-US$500 million in this stage, including bringing the dam to the height of 225 meters and putting two generators into operation. 

Muhiddinov noted that Tajik experts have valued the half-finished facility at US$1.2 billion.  The Tajik official did not name the amount at which RusAl has estimated the infrastructure facilities that were constructed in Roghun before 1993 and yet to be considered. 

Muhiddinov said the construction of the Roghun plant will take 15 to 20 years. ”Our goal is to complete the first stage in three to four years. The Tajik government will complete this stage on its own and with foreign investments,” he said. 

Another deputy energy minister, Akram Sulaymonov, speaking to journalists, noted that if the country is going to begin the construction of the Roghun station next year on its own the budget should stipulate additional expenditures, at least to begin construction of the Roghun plant. He added that a working group may possibly be set up to consider the issue. 

In 2007, six percent of the budget, or 572 million somonis, equivalent to US $168.7 million, is expected to be spent on the energy sector. 

Aleksandr Kasatkin, a spokesman for the RusAl representative office in Dushanbe, commenting on a statement by a Tajik official about funds RusAl has invested in the Roghun project this year, said that the company invested US $300,000 in September alone. 

The Barqi Tojik holding company deputy head, Aleskey Silantyev, yesterday told journalists that RusAl was expected to invest more than 50 million US dollars in the first stage of the project; actually, they have invested little more than US $200,000. 

According to Kasatkin, RusAl concluded a US$ 10 million agreement to delivery machines and equipment to Tajikistan to build the Roghun plant. ”Some of this equipment has already been delivered to Tajikistan,” Kasatkin said. He reiterated that RusAl has consistently fulfilled its obligations under its agreement with the Tajik government signed in Dushanbe in October 2004 and follows the April decisions of the Tajik-Russian commission for economic and trade cooperation.  He noted that the Tajik-Russian economic commission will attempt to settle issues concerning the technical parameters of the hydro system as well as the costs of the unfinished facilities and determination of the two sides'' shares.