DUSHANBE, June 25, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Unit 4 at the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) has been reintroduced into operation after major repairs, the press center of open joint stock company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1 reports.

Unit 4 was introduced into operation on May 15, 2009.  Under the schedule of maintenance, major repairs on units should be made once a year, the source said.

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.

The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s.  By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s.  The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.

The power plant is projected to generate 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum.  Russia’s contribution to the project amounts to some 700 million U.S. dollars.  The power station has an estimated capacity of 670 MW.

Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant.  Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.