DUSHANBE, June 3, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Malaysian company, HOS International Trading SND BHD, has applied to the Government of Tajikistan, asking to make amendments to a concession agreement on construction of a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in northern Tajikistan.

Top manager of HOS International Trading SND BHD, Subramaniam Ratnavelu, has arrived in Dushanbe to discuss this issue with Tajik officials.

An official source at the State Committee on Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest) says a draft concession agreement on construction of the Shurob CHP plant is currently under consideration in Tajik parliament.

We will recall that the Tajik Government endorsed this draft agreement in later October 2013.

Under the agreement, the CHP plant with capacity of 300 megawatt will be constructed in the Shurob Township, Sughd province.

The agreement reportedly regulates relations between the Government of Tajikistan and company HOS International Trading SND BHD within the framework of the project that provides for modernization of open joint-stock company (OJSC) Angisht (Coal) and construction and use of the Shurob CHP plant.  The estimated budget for construction of the Shurob CHP plant is 400 million USD.

Representatives of Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan) say modernization of OJSC Angisht and construction of the Shurob CHP plant will create 1,000 new jobs.

Tajikistan relies almost exclusively on hydropower to generate electricity, which becomes scarce in the winter months when rivers freeze and water reservoir levels drop.

The Shurob Township was established in 1952.  In Soviet time it had a population of 8,400 (1991), most people worked in coal-mining industry.  There were several factories, palace of culture, a stadium, a library, a movie theater, a park, etc.  The town was supplied by Moscow, and wages of local people were higher, than in many other Tajik cities.

After the breakup of the USSR in 1991, most of the coal mines, factories, culture institutions were closed and the town lost more than a half of its population.