DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) – Barqi Tojik (برق تاجیک) power conglomerate owes 486.8 mln somoni (some $80 mln) to Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1 that operates the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP), according to OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1.

Barqi Tojik is currently the only buyer of electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP. Over the first three months of this year, the Sangtuda-1 HPP has reportedly generated 601 mln kWh of electricity. OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 says the plant has generated more than 13 bln kWh of electricity since January 20, 2008, when the first unit of the plant was introduced into operation.

Tajik and Russian presidents officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009. The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 km southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.

Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant. Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.

Russia owns 75% of the shares minus one share and Tajikistan assumes the 25% ownership interest plus one share in Sangtudinskaya GES-1.