DUSHANBE, October 28, 2009, Asia-Plus -- The Norak Dam is recognized the safest dam in Central Asia.

According to press service of the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MEI), this was remarked at an international symposium entitled “World’s Highest and Safest Dams” that was held in Beijing, China on October 18-25.

Khairullo Safarov, the head of the MEI capital construction directorate, and Usmonali Usmonov, the director of the energy projects management unit, represented Tajikistan at the conference in Beijing.

Among five world’s tallest dams are the Norak Dam (300 meters), the Xiaowan Dam in Lancang, China (292 meters), the Grande Dixence Dam in Dixence, Switzerland (285 meters), the Inguri Dam in Georgia (272 meters), and the Vaiont Dam in Vaiont, Italy (262 meters).

The Norak Dam is a large earth fill dam located on the Vakhsh River.  At 300 meters it is currently the tallest dam in the world.  Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1980, when Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union.

A total of nine hydroelectric turbines are installed in the Norak Dam. Originally having a generating capacity of 300 megawatts each (2,700 megawatts total), they have since been redesigned and retrofitted such that they now combine to produce 3,000 megawatts.  The station’s capacity is 11.2 billion kWh of electrical power per year.