ALUMINUM RUSSIAN GIANT TO BUILD FIVE-STAR HOTEL IN TAJIK CAPITALCommercial News
Tajikistan
June 2005
Jamshed Rahmonberdiev, BISNIS/Commercial Service Representative in Tajikistan
This Commercial News Updates covers the following:
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Environmental Technologies
Tajikistan to recycle beryllium rocket fuel
Legislation
Tajik president signs law reducing land tax
Power Energy
SANGTUDA-1 HYDROPOWER STATION, JSC
SANGTUDA-2 HYDROPOWER STATION, JSC
Tajikistan seeks investors in new power project on Afghan border
WORLD BANK HELPS TAJIKISTAN REDUCE COMMERCIAL ENERGY LOSSES
Banking & Finance
Tajikistan to open doors to foreign banks
BANK TURAN ALEM OPENS REP OFFICE IN DUSHANBE
EBRD SEEKS MORE PROJECTS IN TAJIKISTAN
EBRD mulls participation in Tajik power plant construction
EBRD gives $5m dollar credit to develop Tajik business
Tajik president, World Bank official outline cooperation prospects
Construction
RUSSIAN ALUMINUM GIANT TO BUILD FIVE-STAR HOTEL IN TAJIK CAPITAL
U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TAJIKISTAN RICHARD HOAGLAND JOINS PRESIDENTS KARZAI
AND RAHMONOV AT PYANZH RIVER BRIDGE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
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Environmental Technologies
Tajikistan to recycle beryllium rocket fuel
DUSHANBE. June 28 (Interfax) - Tajikistan will recycle solid rocket fuel that
contains Beryllium, according to an agreement reached at the eighth session of
the Russian-Tajik intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, which
took place in Dushanbe on Tuesday.
Following the session, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov and Russian delegation
chief Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu signed an intergovernmental
agreement on cooperating in the safe disposal of rocket fuel containing
beryllium.
"This issue has been under discussion for ten years, and today, an end was
reached, and an agreement was accepted and signed," Shoigu told journalists.
Talking about the project's ecological aspect, Shoigu said "there is no threat
of danger either in Russia or Tajikistan."
Legislation
Tajik president signs law reducing land tax
DUSHANBE, 8 June (Avesta): Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov yesterday signed the
Tajik law "On introducing amendments and changes to the law 'On state budget of
the Republic of Tajikistan for 2005'", the presidential press service has told
Avesta. [The amendments envisage a reduction in the common tax on land.]
The source said the law had been drawn up and approved with the purpose of
supporting and encouraging producers of agricultural goods, particularly in
cattle breeding, and the rational use of pastures.
In line with the amendments introduced to the second part of the Tajik law "On
state budget of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2005", now the producers of
agricultural goods will be subject to the common tax on land with respect to
pastures, dry land, as well as gardens in such land.
Now, in keeping with the introduced amendments, agricultural producers will have
to pay four somoni [$1.3 dollar] for a hectare of the aforementioned land per
year.
Power Energy
SANGTUDA-1 HYDROPOWER STATION, JSC
MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's electric power giant, Unified Energy
Systems, wants to use money from the country's Stabilization Fund to build a
hydropower station at Sangtuda, Tajikistan, the company's chief executive said
today.
"The construction of the Sangtuda hydropower station is an important project for
Russia to strengthen its influence in the region and we will ask the Russian
government to allocate money to finance it," Anatoly Chubais said.
Russia's Stabilization Fund was established on January 1, 2005 to accrue
revenues from oil sales at a price of over $20 per barrel. As of early June
2005, the Stabilization Fund totaled 954.5 billion rubles (about $33 billion).
According to a forecast of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and
Trade, the Stabilization Fund will accrue about $40 billion by the end of 2005
and about $80 billion by the end of 2008.
SANGTUDA-2 HYDROPOWER STATION, JSC
DUSHANBE, June 13 (TCA) - Iran's Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf and his
Tajik counterpart Jurabek Nurmahmadov signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
on the second Sangtuda dam and hydroelectric power plant to be constructed in
Tajikistan. According to the document which was drawn up in 19 articles, Iran
will construct the dam and power plant in Nurek district, west of Tajikistan,
IRNA reported.
The Ministry of Energy will undertake preliminary measures required to establish
an enterprise to be called Sangtuda II Co., which is to be registered as an
Iranian joint stock company.
The dam and power station, which is to be constructed over Vakhsh River, will
cost $220m in total, of which $180m will be financed by Iran under a 10-year
loan with a five percent interest rate.
In addition, a credit of 40 million dollars will be extended to Sangtuda II Co.
by Tajikistan. In accordance with the MoU, Sangtuda II Co. will be committed to
establish the dam and power station by using the financial facilities to be
extended by Iran's Export Development Bank and the credits to be provided by
Tajik Ministry of Energy.
Upon implementation of the project, once the banking facilities and the relevant
expenses and turnover of the company are paid back to Iran, the proprietorship
of the dam and power station will be transferred to Tajikistan's Ministry of
Energy.
Tajikistan seeks investors in new power project on Afghan border
Dushanbe, 21 June (Asia Plus): An approximate amount of money necessary for the
construction of the Dashtijum hydroelectric power station on the River Panj [on
the Tajik-Afghan border] in Tajikistan is 3.2bn dollars, Asia-Plus has learnt
this at the Tajik Energy Ministry.
According to the station's technical characteristics, its production capacity
will be 4,000 MW, the height of its dam will be 320 metres, and the length of
its reservoir will be 70 km. First Deputy Energy Minister Aleksey Silantyev said
that the station's annual electricity output was to be 15-16bn kWh. "We are now
talking about its approximate cost since a feasibility study has not been
carried out. Its feasibility study also requires a certain amount of money and
we are looking for investors and donors to finance the construction of the power
plant," Silantyev said.
The source said that many countries, particularly the USA and a number of
Islamic states, had already expressed willingness to provide financial
assistance in the new project.
[Note: Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov has recently called on the international
community to help the Afghan people raise their living standards and create new
jobs, and said one way of doing this was the building of the Dashtijum
hydroelectric power station on the Tajik-Afghan border.]
WORLD BANK HELPS TAJIKISTAN REDUCE COMMERCIAL ENERGY LOSSES
Washington, June 30, 2005--The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today
approved an Energy Loss Reduction Project for the Republic of Tajikistan. This
project will be funded by the Bank in the amount of US$18 million, of which
US$15 million is an IDA credit and US$3 million is an IDA grant. The Swiss
Government, through its Secretariat for Economic Cooperation (SECO), is expected
to co-finance the Project with a grant in the amount of US$8 million.
The project will help reduce commercial losses in Tajikistan's
electricity and gas systems and will lay the foundation for improvements in the
financial viability of the electricity and gas utilities, in a manner that will
take into account the interests of all of the country's population groups.
Little attention has been paid to the energy sector in the first 10
years of Tajikistan's independence, owing to the civil war and other crises. No
significant investments have been made in the sector, leading to severe
deterioration of physical infrastructure, which in turn results in very high
network losses and reduced reliability.
Commercial losses are also high, partly due to the legacy of supplying energy
without meters, and partly due to the lack of commercial orientation within the
utilities. To compound the problem, tariffs were maintained at very low levels
relative to the cost of supply, thus contributing to increased consumption (in
turn leading to imbalance in supply and demand) and lack of funds for
operational and capital expenditures.
The Government of Tajikistan has adopted a two-track strategy, comprised of a
series of policy and investment measures, for the development of the country's
energy sector aimed at realizing the potential it has in contributing to
economic growth as well as to poverty reduction. The first track of this
strategy is aimed at the economic and physical recovery of the domestic energy
sector, and the second track at making the most of the export potential of the
electricity sector.
"This project is the first of several interventions the that Government of
Tajikistan intends to undertake to realize the two-track strategy," said
Raghuveer Sharma, the Project Task Manager and Team Leader of Central Asia
Energy Programs, adding that "the Government has recognized that having a
financially viable domestic energy sector is a pre-requisite for making the most
of the sector's export potential."
The Energy Loss Reduction project will provide for the supply and
installation of electricity as well as gas meters and testing and quality
control laboratories. It will support the design and installation of
computerized billing systems. In addition, it will support capacity building
and technical assistance to the relevant energy utilities, and to the Government
for the implementation of energy tariff and social protection policies. It will
also help to streamline the interaction between energy consumers and the
Government's agencies involved in the regulation of energy supply.
The Republic of Tajikistan joined the World Bank in 1993. Since
that time, commitments to the country total approximately US$345 million for
projects approved on both a lending and grant basis. At the moment, the active
portfolio of Bank-supported projects consists of 9 investment operations for a
total commitment of US$130 million, of which about 50 percent has been
disbursed. Funding for new projects approved in fiscal year 2006 will be
allocated on a
100 percent grant basis.
Banking & Finance
Tajikistan to open doors to foreign banks
Dushanbe, 16 June: "The limits to participation of foreign commercial banks in
Tajikistan will be removed this year, and due to this the competition and inflow
of foreign investments will increase," President Emomali Rahmonov said at the
opening of an international banking conference in Dushanbe today.
He also noted the dynamics of growth in the sphere of giving micro credits to
the people: "Over 125,000 citizens of the country have received micro credits
since 1994. The country's banks granted more than 17,000 micro credits total
approximately 50m somoni (about $16m)," the head of state said.
BANK TURAN ALEM OPENS REP OFFICE IN DUSHANBE
Dushanbe, June 22 (Asia Plus): A representative office of Kazakhstans Bank
TuranAlem to be opened in Dushanbe in summer 2005 said a source in Kazakhstan
Embassy in Dushanbe. The bank is now going through registration process with
the Ministry of Justice and obtaining necessary license from the National Bank
of Tajikistan. Bank TuranAlem is one of the leading commercial banks in
Kazakhstan.
EBRD SEEKS MORE PROJECTS IN TAJIKISTAN EBRD PRESIDENT
Pugus (Tajikistan), 16 June: The president of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development [EBRD], Jean Lemierre, has expressed his
readiness to further support economic reforms in Tajikistan, the course of which
he rated positively.
"I would like to tell Mr Emomali Rahmonov once again that the situation in the
country is improving, and that the EBRD would like to do even more for its
development," Jean Lemierre told journalists after a meeting with Tajik
President Emomali Rahmonov in the president's countryside residence.
The banker said that they had considered a number of issues relating to the bank
financing small businesses in Tajikistan and focused on the development of trade
enterprises as a quick way of developing businesses and creating new jobs.
"We have also discussed important projects in telecommunications, civil
aviation, the municipal sector and other areas in which the EBRD could take
part," Lemierre said. "Other very enticing projects relating to Tajikistan and
the development of the entire region were also touched upon," he said.
Commenting on the EBRD assisting the Tajik state air carrier Tajik Airlines, the
head of the airline, Mirzo Anvarov, said in an interview with an ITAR-TASS
correspondent that they were talking about the EBRD allocating a $5m credit for
purchasing two West European aircraft.
"There are a number of problems and conditions set by banks and they are
currently being looked at," Anvarov said without going into details.
EBRD mulls participation in Tajik power plant construction
Dushanbe, 16 June (Avesta): The president of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development [EBRD], Jean Lemierre, has said that the bank
acknowledges the importance of exporting electricity from Tajikistan.
He said that a construction project of the Roghun hydroelectric power station
was a very important and long-term project. The project was presented to him
yesterday following his talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov.
"The presentation [of the project] will help me and my colleagues consider the
EBRD's participation in the project. Some work should be carried out before we
give our opinion on this issue."
He added that the EBRD acknowledged the importance of exporting electricity from
Tajikistan and the necessity to improve electricity supply to the country's
population.
EBRD gives $5m dollar credit to develop Tajik business
Dushanbe, 17 June (Avesta): Two credit agreements on three new projects of the
EBRD [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development] to finance micro and
small enterprises and trade in Tajikistan were signed in Dushanbe on 16 June.
The total amount of the credits given by the EBRD within the framework of the
agreements is 5m dollars.
The implementation of these projects will contribute to the development of
entrepreneurship in Tajikistan and to the financial provision ...