DUSHANBE, October 21, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Electricity rationing will not be introduced in Dushanbe this autumn-winter period, Safarali Sadulloyev, the deputy director of Barqi Tojik power holding, told reporters in Dushanbe on October 20.

Electricity rationing will be introduced only in the regions but it will not be as tight as last year’s rationing, Sadulloyev said.

“At present, in some regions, electricity supplies are cut off from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am,” said the power holding official, “It is done for the purpose of inspecting  power transmission lines and transformers and this power supply regime will last till the end of this month,” he said, noting that such measures would be taken in Dushanbe as well.

He added that power deficiency in this winter would amount to some 2.6 billion kWh.  “Negotiations with Turkmenistan on electricity deliveries to Tajikistan in autumn-winter period have been completed and Turkmenistan will begin supplying electricity to Tajikistan starting from November 1,” said Sadulloyev, “However, there is problem with supplying Turkmen electricity via Uzbek power; this issue is currently being discussed at the level of the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.”