DUSHANBE, October 30, Asia-Plus -- “Over the past two years, Russian Aluminum (RusAl) has consistently fulfilled its obligations under an agreement with the Tajik government signed in Dushanbe in October 2004,” Aleksandr Kasatkin, a spokesman for RusAl representative office in Dushanbe, said in an interview with Asia-Plus commenting on the second international conference on regional electricity trade in Dushanbe.  

He noted that settlement of disputable issues on the Roghun project is in the competence of Tajik-Russian commission for economic and trade cooperation.  “The company is recommended to act strictly in accordance with a decision made at a working meeting of co-chairmen of the commission held in April this year,” said Kasatkin, “Under this decision materials prepared by Germany’s Lehmeyer International that conducted the feasibility study for the Roghun plant have been submitted to the Tajik side for reviewing by international independent experts recommended by the World Bank” 

According to him, the Russian side expects that the additional review will be finished in the near future, and the next meeting of the Tajik-Russian economic commission will make final decision on technical parameters of the dam, cost of facilities at the half-finished construction and define shares of the parties.

The feasibility study conducted by Lehmeyer International is based on the design for the construction of the hydropower plant with a 285-metre high fill dam working in a neutral regime of exploitation.