Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012

Advanced Economic Cooperationin Sectors and Industriesannually by at least 4% of the price in the previous year. In accordance withArticle 3 of the agreement, in case the Tajik laws are amended so that thepayback period for investments in the construction of Sangtuda-1 HPP exceedstwenty years, the Tajik party will buy electricity produced by the plant at anincreased price, which is to be agreed between the company and the Tajik partyand which would make it possible to have the investment paid back withintwenty years of commissioning.Electricity produced by the plant is transmitted, distributed and sold to endconsumers (the population and enterprises) by Barki Tojik. Prices differ bycategories of consumers. From January 1, 2010, the price of 1 kWh of electricityis $0.0206 for the population, $0.0487 for industrial and non-industrialconsumers, and $0.0195 for budget-funded organisations and the utilitiessector.Sangtuda-2 HPP is also a joint hydropower facility. In accordance with theTajik-Iranian agreement on the construction of Sangtuda-2 HPP on the VakhshRiver (June 2005), Iran invested $180 million and Tajikistan $40 million. Iranwill receive revenues from Sangtuda-2 HPP for 12.5 years from the date of theplant’s commissioning. After that the ownership of the plant will be transferredto Tajikistan. The contractor for the project was Iran’s Farob. Construction beganin early 2006 and was completed in late 2011. The plant’s installed capacityis 220 MW and generation capacity 1 billion kWh a year. It is the lowest plantin the Sangtuda power system and operates in parallel with Sangtuda-1 HPPon water released from the Nurek reservoir. The joint operation of the plantsmakes it possible to control the flow on a daily basis and to cover heavy winterloads.The cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran in the sphere of hydropower isbeing expanded. Iran intends to take part in the construction of the 130 MWAini HPP and is considering investing in the construction of Nurabad-1 andNurabad-2 HPPs with a capacity of 350 MW each. The Aini, Nurabad-1 andNurabad-2 HPPs will form a cascade on the Zeravshan River. China expressedreadiness to construct Nurabad-1 HPP, but in 2009 abandoned its plans dueto Uzbekistan’s official position – Uzbekistan opposes the construction ofhydropower plants on transboundary rivers because they could have a negativeeffect on the conditions of the country’s water use (Troitsky, 2010).The Rogun HPP, which is currently under construction, has the potential tobecome another largest hydropower facility not only for Tajikistan, but alsofor the region as a whole. The plant was designed by the SredahydroprojectInstitute (Tashkent) and approved by the State Construction Committee ofthe USSR in 1974. The plant’s facilities include a rock-fill dam, constructionand operational tunnels, and an underground building for the power plant,which includes the turbine and transformer halls. If finished, it would be theworld’s tallest dam with a height of 335 m. The plant had a design capacity of222 EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012