DUSHANBE (Reuters) – Tajikistan started the first turbine of its Rogun hydroelectric power plant on Friday, part of a dam project that aims to secure the Central Asian nation\u2019s energy independence.<\/p>\n
The former Soviet republic issued its first Eurobond last year to help finance the project, which will include the world\u2019s tallest dame when it is completed in 2026.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Salini Impregilo won a $3.9 billion contract, making it the biggest single investment in Tajikistan since it gained independence in 1991.<\/p>\n
The government hopes the plant will help end power rationing in winter months while also allowing Tajikistan to boost energy exports its neighbors, such as Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis historical date will be inscribed in golden letters in Tajikistan\u2019s modern history and will be a source of pride for the next generation,\u201d Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon said as he started the power plant, 100 km (62 miles) east of Dushanbe.<\/p>\n
The launch ceremony followed by a fireworks show televised on outdoors screens across the nation.<\/p>\n
At Friday\u2019s launch of the first turbine, the dam on the Vakhsh river in the Pamir mountains was just 75 meters (yards) tall. By 2026, it will to rise to 335 meters and will have six turbines with installed capacity of 3,600 megawatts (MW).<\/p>\n
Starting the turbines gradually before the dam\u2019s completion will help finance construction. Tajikistan\u2019s Finance Ministry estimates the project will require $4 billion to complete.<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan, which lies downstream, previously voiced concerns about the impact on the water flows to Uzbek farmers. But Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took power after Islam Karimov died in 2016, has softened Tashkent\u2019s stance and eased tensions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUSHANBE (Reuters) – Tajikistan started the first turbine of its Rogun hydroelectric power plant on Friday, part of a dam project that aims to secure the Central Asian nation\u2019s energy independence. The former Soviet republic issued its first Eurobond last year to help finance the project, which will include the world\u2019s tallest dame when it is completed in 2026. Italy\u2019s… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2520,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519\/revisions\/2520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}