DUSHANBE, April 12, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan’s power holding, Barqi Tojik, and Canog Energy Inc. (Canada) have signed an agreement on construction of several small hydropower plants on the Surkhob River in eastern Tajikistan, Asanali Karamaliyev, First Deputy Chairman of Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 12.

“Under this document, Canog Energy Inc. will construct the 15.5MW Domrachin HPP, 4.73MW Nazarmegan HPP and 2.3MW Yormazor HPP on the Surkhob River,” Karamaliyev said, noting that the agreement was inked by Abdullo Yorov, head of Barqi Tojik power holding, and Stuart Squires, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canog Energy Inc, in Dushanbe last week.

According to him, the agreement was signed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.           

BOT is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract.  This enables the project proponent to recover its investment, operating and maintenance expenses in the project.

We will recall that Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) and Canog Energy Inc. (Canada) signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in field of energy on April 1.  The document provides for participation of Canog Energy Inc. in construction of the Nourobod-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPPP) on the Obi Khingob River in eastern Tajikistan and exploration of oil and gas prospects in Tajikistan with further construction of oil refineries.

Canog Energy Inc. is a private Canadian Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation.  According to information posted on its website, its goal is to assist China in increasing its domestic and international oil and natural gas production by transferring modern oil and natural gas technology, and training its people in the efficient use of these technologies.  Canog can offer a wide range of technologies and skills from drilling to production including the latest in oilfield computer technology.