The European Commission decided to allocate €10 million to support the energy sector in Tajikistan
The European Commission's Directorate General for International Partnerships plans to allocate €10 million for the implementation of a set of measures to support the energy sector in Tajikistan.
“This project will promote the use of sustainable energy sources in Tajikistan by maintaining an appropriate institutional and regulatory environment in the energy sector,” the tender description says.
It is noted that the allocated funds should help, in particular, to develop the capacity and efficiency of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, the state energy company Barki Tojik, and the Electricity Regulation Department of the Antimonopoly Service of Tajikistan.
The European Commission added that this whole set of measures will help make the country's electricity market more transparent, where real tariffs will be reflected. In turn, these prices will be attractive to the private sector, meeting all modern requirements that apply to the regional electricity market.
In addition, the project will help strengthen the interaction between stakeholders in the energy sector and will reduce harmful emissions into the environment.
Recall, earlier it was reported that the government of Tajikistan is negotiating with the European Union to attract financial resources for the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power plant. The First Deputy Minister of Energy and New Technologies, Jamshed Shoimzoda, spoke about this on July 12 at a press conference in Dushanbe.
He noted that it is too early to talk about any specific amount, since the negotiation process has not yet been completed.
According to Shoimzoda, along with the European Union, negotiations are underway with other bilateral and multilateral financial donors, including the World Bank.
He also said that Tajikistan has signed memorandums with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on the supply of Rogun energy to these countries, which will favorably affect the attraction of donor funds.
The fact is that one of the unresolved issues that hinders the attraction of money from international financial institutions is the lack of a specific market for Rogun energy.
At the beginning of this year, the Asian Development Bank Resident Representative in Tajikistan, Shannie Campbell, told Asia Plus that the government of Tajikistan had initiated a meeting with international donors at the end of last year, where the issue of financing the Rogun project was discussed.
"However," she noted, "based on research conducted by the World Bank, there are still many questions related to the Rogun project that donors need to get answers to before investing in this project."
Among such issues, Shannie Campbell ranked the issues of procurement, ensuring protective measures and finding a market for Rogun electricity.
Afghanistan and Pakistan were considered as the main markets for Rogun electricity. However, after the Taliban, who have not yet been recognized by the Tajik authorities, came to power in Afghanistan in August last year, the supply of Tajik electricity through the CASA-1000 power line raises certain questions.
Reuters previously reported, citing EU officials, that the European Investment Bank (EU financial and credit institution) plans to become the largest investor in the Rogun HPP.