DUSHANBE, January 19, 2011, Asia-Plus -- In 2010, more than 1.6 billion somoni (equivalent to more than 363 million U.S. dollars) were spent for construction of hydropower facilities in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI).

The source at a MoEI says this amount includes 690 million somoni (43 percent) of state and enterprises’ funds and 916,600 million somoni (57 percent) of foreign loans.

“49.7 million somoni were spent for construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and 544.8 million somoni (a 37.6 million contribution of Tajikistan and 507.2 million somoni provided by Iran) were spent for construction of the Sangtuda-2 HPP,” the source said.

He added that 554.7 million somoni were spent last year for completion of construction of the Roghun HPP, which was 123.6 million somoni more than in 2009.   We will recall that the 2010 national budget earmarked 650 million somoni for Roghun’s construction.

Meanwhile, the national budget for 2011 projected 1.22 billion for enhancement of the energy sector, including 850 million somoni earmarked for completion of construction of the Roghun HPP.