WORLD BANK ADVISES TAJIKISTAN TO HALT CONSTRUCTION OF HYDROPOWER STATION
On August 16, the World Bank in Tajikistan distributed a statement related to the construction of the Rogun hydropower station. In this statement, the World Bank recommends Tajikistan not to start constructing the dam required for the station. The international consultants, who are conducting a feasibility study for the Rogun project on behalf of the World Bank, advised Tajikistan’s government to halt the start of the dam construction, which is planned for this year. Instead, the experts propose to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the planned dam.
The Rogun hydropower station is an incomplete Soviet era construction project in Tajikistan. The project was frozen following the collapse of the Soviet Union due to insufficient funding, but was reinvigorated in 2007. According to the original blueprint, the Rogun station is to become the largest in the Central Asian region with a dam of 335 meters, and a capacity to produce 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The station will allow Tajikistan to overcome its energy deficit and even to become the main electricity exporter in the region.
The aforementioned statement of the World Bank was made based on a 10-day visit of the Bank’s team of specialists to Tajikistan. The Bank’s team visited the construction area of the Rogun and Nurek hydropower stations, both situated within the Vakhsh River basin, and had a number of meetings with representatives of Tajikistan’s government. The Bank’s team also met with the representatives of two consulting companies – Coyne & Bellier and Poyry, which are conducting a feasibility study along with an environmental and social assessment of the Rogun station, both funded by the World Bank.
The consulting companies presented the results of a primary ecological and social assessment and an assessment of the Rogun dam with intermediate height to the Bank’s team. Considering the results of the primary assessments, the World Bank recommended the Government of Tajikistan not to construct the intermediate dam of 120 meters for the Rogun station. The main reason for this conclusion is a “high level of sedimentary materials” in the Vakhsh River which could threaten the dam. Instead, the Bank proposed to start the construction process after a comprehensive assessment is made of the whole planned dam of 350 meters which will take up to 8 months.
Last year, the World Bank and Tajikistan’s government agreed that Tajikistan will not start any construction activities at the Rogun station before the feasibility study and environmental assessment are finished and discussed with independent experts and with representatives of all countries within the river basin.
The statement by the World Bank provoked a strongly negative reaction from the side of experts and politicians in Tajikistan. While there is no official reaction from the government, Tajik experts advise the Government not to pay attention to the recommendations of the World Bank and to begin the construction of the station, which is vitally important for the country, as soon as possible. Local experts assume that the World Bank made a statement in favor of Uzbekistan, which strongly opposes the construction of the Rogun station.
For instance, Bakhrom Sirojev, a member of the International Engineering Academy, believes that the Bank’s specialists have made their statement “without going into the core of the issue.” The expert says that there is no planned “intermediate” 120-meter dam at all. He explains that the construction of a dam is a continuous process. A 120-meter dam will only be the first stage in the process of constructing a 350-meter dam. According to Sirojev, a 120-meter dam is needed to start the first two assemblies of the station, but the dam will be constructed continuously. The expert concluded that the Bank is just “dragging away the time-frame”, knowing that Tajikistan was going to start construction of the dam in November 2011.
Other local experts have a similar opinion and claim that the speedy construction of the Rogun dam is very important for other hydropower stations within the river basin. Shodi Shabdolov, the leader of the Tajik Communist Party and a Member of Parliament, claims that the urgent construction of the Rogun dam will help in overcoming the serious silting of the Nurek hydropower station reservoir (which is downstream of the Rogun station). Shabdolov states that a delay in the construction of the Rogun station would have a negative impact for all other hydropower stations within the river basin; Nurek, Sangtuda-1 and Sangtuda-2.
Finally, local experts claim that the construction of the Rogun dam and reservoir will be beneficial for other countries within the river basin. According to local experts, the Rogun reservoir will ensure regulation of the water level in the main river of the region, Amu Darya, and will consequently enable the improvement of land recovery in the entire region, including in Uzbekistan.
While the Tajikistan’s government refrains from commenting and local experts perceive the Bank’s statement negatively, the World Bank’s regional director for Central Asia, Motu Konishi, stated to media that there is hope that the Government of Tajikistan “will accept the recommendations and will consider the results of the primary assessments in a constructive way.”
