DUSHANBE , February 20, Asia-Plus - An official groundbreaking ceremony for Sangtuda-2 station was held in southern Tajikistan today morning.  

Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov and visiting high-ranking Iranian delegation comprising Majlis (Iranian parliament) Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and Energy Minister Said Parviz Fattah attended the station groundbreaking ceremony. 

President Rahmonov speaking at the ceremony pointed to historical and deep-rooted bonds between the two countries and stressed the importance of making use of bilateral potentials to consolidate cooperation.  Rahmonov named the construction of Sangtuda-2 hydropower plant a new page in a joint history of Tajik and Iranian peoples.  Rahmonov stressed that the Sangtuda-2 station was a new direction in bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Two generators with capacity of 110 megawatt each will be installed on the plant that will allow generating one billion kWh of electricity a year, according to the president.  He noted that the main feature of the Sangtuda-2 plant is small expense on its construction because once the station is put into operation it will use a part of infrastructure of the neighboring Sangtuda-1 power plant.  “The power station will generate electricity in three and half years ad if we do our outmost, it will generate the first electricity in three years,” Rahmonov stressed.  He named energy cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran one of priorities and main directions of relationships between the two countries, expressing hope that the Sangtuda-2 was not the last joint project.   

The next ambitious joint project of Tajikistan and Iran could be the Dashtijum hydroelectric power station on the Panj River in Tajikistan , according to Rahmonov.  This station with the rated capacity of 4,000 megawatt will be able to generate 15.6 billion kWh of electric power a year.  It will allow irrigating 1.5 million hectares of lands and providing 5 million people in the region with jobs, according to Rahmonov.   

For his part, Iranian Minister of Energy Said Parviz Fattah telling the station’s groundbreaking ceremony noted that Iran would make every effort to further expands cooperation with Tajikistan . 

Afghan Energy and Water Resources Muhammad Ismail Khan, who also attended the Santuda-2 groundbreaking ceremony, noted that the construction of the Sangtuda-2 plant would give new impulse to development of economies of Tajikistan and Afghanistan and all the three fraternal people would be able to get benefit from for hydropower resources. 

As it had been reported earlier, Tajikistan and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Sangtuda-2 power plant in June 2005.  The dam and power station will cost US$220 million in total, of which 180 million dollars will be financed by Iran .  In addition, US$40 million will be extended by Tajikistan . 

Once the power station is built, all the revenue over the next 12.5 years will go to Iran , which is investing in the project.  Tajikistan will become the owner of Sangtuda-2 after this period expires.