An event for which long preparations had been made took place in Tajikistan recently. We are talking about the test launch of the first power unit at the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station on the Vakhsh river. Russian government and business circles have expressed great interest in this event as the construction of the 482m-dollar hydroelectric power station was carried out in cooperation with the Unified Energy System of Russia, which acted as the key initiator, investor and chief contractor [of the power project]. The power unit with a projected capacity of 167.5 MW will produce about 2.4 million kWh per day. The Unified Energy System of Russia will own 75 per cent of the new hydroelectric power station.

One can fully understand Tajikistan’s intentions to expand power production facilities to resolve aggravating problems in the supply of power in the country and to meet the requirements of the population and enterprises. The power supply problem becomes especially acute and seriously affects the economy and people’s sentiments in winter every year.

However, for the sake of justice it should be noted - and this is supported by experts’ calculations - that the growing problem of shortage of electric power stems, to a larger extent, from the poor use of the existing power generation facilities in the country, from a programme that has not been thought through and sometimes from the lack of such a programme. Tajikistan produced only 16.7-17.5bn kWh annually in recent years, whereas the existing facilities can produce twice as much electric power, that is about 50 per cent of the existing capacities are being used.

The [water] level at the Norak reservoir fell to a critical point in the past years. The head of the Tajik state energy company said: "There is so little water here (in the Norak reservoir) that this volume may be sufficient for the hydroelectric power station to work only for the first ten days of February, and after that a critical situation may arise in the country." Because of this policy, as a result of shortage of resources only 45-48 per cent of the Norak hydroelectric power station’s actual capacities are used today, and it is hard to say when they will be filled to a normal stable level.

There are even more questions regarding the use of the electric power that has already been produced. About half of the total electric power produced and transmitted is used to satisfy the needs of the country’s largest industrial enterprise, Tajik aluminium company (TALCO), as well as the Tajik cement plant which supplies its products mainly for the construction of two units of the Sangtuda hydroelectric power station. According to Tajik sources, the Tajik aluminium company currently uses 20 million kWh per day, which is double the amount used by the entire population of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

The Tajik people have many questions regarding the fact that in the periods of acute shortage of electric power, the country increases its export to Afghan territory. It becomes quite clear that shortages in power supply are due not only to objective causes, but also to vital interests of business circles which, rather than meeting the needs of the population above all, aim to increase electricity and aluminium exports.

Regional benefits of Sangtuda-1 doubtful

Lots of festive speeches were made at the ceremony of launching the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station. Those who listened to or read these speeches in the press apparently noticed certain inconsistencies and even paradoxes in the statements of organizers of the ceremony. According to these statements, the countries located along the transborder rivers - for instance the largest river in Central Asia, Amu Daryo, which supplies water to millions of people in the neighbouring states - should be grateful to the Tajik government for implementing these large-scale power projects. The statement that all Central Asian nations benefit from the construction of the so-called "multi-functional hydroelectric power stations" is, to put it mildly, doubtful and goes against common sense.

It is no secret that water is used for two purposes, specifically power generation and irrigation. [Passage omitted: General remarks about hydropower production, the use of dams and hydraulic mechanisms] Secondly, the more dams the more obstacles to natural river flows, and the more acute the problem of water supply, first of all, to people living along the lower courses of the rivers as well as that of satisfying the needs of farm irrigation. And it is well known that 95 per cent of all people in Central Asia owe their livelihood and food provision to farm irrigation.

Moreover, the discharge of large volumes of water in winter leads to the backing of subsoil waters, the emergence of swamps and sometimes floods in irrigated lands which cause irreparable damage to agriculture, and the consequences are easily predictable: water shortages and drought in the lower courses of the rivers and tens of millions of people losing their sources of income from agricultural production, not to mention the receding Aral [Sea], which is a problem becoming increasingly acute with every passing year, which directly raises the issue of survival of over 36-40 million people living in the vicinity of Aral.

Coordination of hydroelectric projects important

Uzbekistan’s position on this issue is firm, and it has been presented on many occasions at different levels. First of all, the construction of an efficient system of joint use of resources of transborder rivers in Central Asia should be based on the existing international legal framework on using transborder rivers and waterstreams. Cooperation on the basis of the universally accepted international norms and rules will secure each of the sides’ sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and fairness. Each country has a right to implement projects on using resources of the transborder rivers, including the construction of hydraulic facilities, but on condition that a thorough and independent feasibility and environmental study is carried out openly and the information should be fully accessible to the interested parties.

Two extremely important conditions need to be met here. First, the watercourse level must not be lower for countries located along the lower course of the river. Second, the environmental safety of the region, which is already very unstable, must not be violated.