Uzbekistan and Tajikistan continue to discuss a draft intergovernmental agreement on the procedure of joint construction and exploitation of hydropower plants in the Zarafshan River.
The next meeting of the Uzbek-Tajik working group is scheduled for March in Dushanbe, the press service of the Energy Ministry said.
The construction of hydropower plants is planned to be carried out in several stages. First scheduled task is the construction of the Yavan hydroelectric station with an estimated cost of $282 million, a capacity of 140 MW, generating 700-800 million kWh of electricity.
At the next stage, the parties will consider the possibility of building a hydroelectric station on the Fan Darya River with an estimated cost of $270 million, a capacity of 135 MW, generating 500-600 million kWh of electricity.
The projects are planned to be financed by grant funds and money borrowed from international financial organizations, as well as the countries’ own funds.
The constructed hydroelectric power plants will generate up to 1,400 million kWh of ecological clean electricity exclusively for the needs of Uzbekistan.
The project will also help support the peak capacity of the unified energy system and create additional jobs during the joint construction and operation of hydroelectric power stations, as well as the flow of electricity to other regions of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on a parity basis.
Presented by the Tajik side, the draft intergovernmental agreement on the procedure for shared participation in the construction and use of a hydroelectric power station on the Zarafshan River was considered on April 24, 2019 by a working group composed of representatives of interested ministries and departments of Uzbekistan.
On January 28-29, 2020, the first meeting of the Uzbek-Tajik working group was held in Tashkent, when the parties discussed a draft agreement on the procedure and conditions of the joint project.
At the upcoming meeting of the joint working group, the parties will discuss changes made by the Uzbek side that will affect the level of protection of investments and risks, the mechanism for considering controversial issues, the procedure for the purchase of generated electricity by the Uzbek side and so on.
