DUSHANBE, July 31, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) notes that a report by Barqi Tojik, the state-owned national utility company, on TALCO’s electricity debts does not reflect the real state of the case.

Igor Sattarov, a spokesman for TALCO, notes that Tajik aluminum company has delivered some 90 million somoni worth of fuel oil to Tajikistan for Barqi Tojik on the basis of mutual settlement of accounts.

“Besides, TALCO has carried out 9 million somoni worth of construction-and-assembling operations on installation of a gas generator at the Eastern boiler-house in Dushanbe,” said Sattarov.  “Moreover, Barqi Tojik’s report does not take into consideration its 30 million somoni debt to Nokili TALCO.  Therefore, TALCO’s electricity debts are at least nearly 130 million somoni less than Barqi Tojik noted.”

Sattarov further noted that TALCO had all necessary opportunities to repay its electricity debts in a short space of time.

We will recall that according to Barqi Tojik’s report, its uncollected receivables have reportedly reached 1.083 billion somoni.  The most incorrigible nonpayers are the land reclamation facilities, Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) and federally funded institutions.  TALCO alone now owes some 250 million somoni to Barqi Tojik, the report said.

TALCO is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides the bulk of the country’s foreign currency earnings.  TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government.  Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.

Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975.  On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.