Tajikistan’s second unit of mega hydroelectric power project to be launched on Monday

The Rogun Dam (KUNA)

Dushanbe: The second unit of Rogun Dam, a mega hydroelectric power plant project in Tajikistan’s southern city of Rogun, will be launched on Monday in a ceremony to be attended by President Emomali Rahmon.

The $3.9 billion-worth project aims to double Tajikistan’s energy production to eliminate domestic electrical shortages and export surplus electricity to neighboring countries, including Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The project’s goal is to solve the country’s problem with electricity shortages during winter seasons, and export clean energy to neighboring countries,” Anvar Rahmonov, Director of Production at Rogun Dam, said on Sunday, quoted by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

The first of six units in Rogun Dam were commissioned in November 2018.

Constructed on the Vakhsh River in the Pamir Mountains under supervision of the Italian-based Salini Impergilo company, the rock-filled dam is expected to reach a total capacity of 3,600 MW through its six units, each of generates 600 MW, making Rogun the most powerful hydroelectric plant in Central Asia.

“There are more than 60 companies representing Tajikistan, Italy, and Germany are currently working in the dam,” he said, quoted by KUNA.

The project, slated for completion by 2028, is expected to amount to 335 meters in height, becoming the tallest hydroelectric dam in the world. It would surpass in height China’s Jinping-I Dam by 30 meters, and Tajikistan’s own Norak Dam by 35 meters.

“So far, 70 percent of the work has been completed. The Second unit was achieved in a record time. As for the third unit, according to our plan, we expect to fully launch it between 2024 and 2025,” Rahmonov told KUNA.

Initial construction on the dam began in 1976, during the Soviet era. It stalled in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union and outbreak of the civil war, which lasted until in 1997.

The project eventually resumed in 2016 when President Rahmon officially launched the construction of the dam. In 2018, the Tajik President oversaw the launch of the first unit at the Rogun Dam.