Translated material
Tajiks are unhappy with RUSAL
“RUSAL has not invested anything in the reconstruction of the enterprise, not a penny of the promised 150 million,” ITAR-TASS quotes the head of the State Property Committee of Tajikistan, Sherali Gulov. “The government of Tajikistan does not plan to sell the plant to either Russian or other foreign companies,” he added. However, Mr. Gulov’s latest statement sounds at least strange: after all, back in May, the head of the republic, Emomali Rakhmonov, announced his intention to keep the enterprise, which provides three-quarters of foreign currency injections into the country’s budget, in state ownership and refuse to privatize it in the foreseeable future. And RUSAL, planning to start work in Tajikistan, did not plan to buy the plant, but did not exclude the possibility of participating in a tender for its sale, if one was announced. The company intended to build additional capacities at the enterprise and, of course, laid claim to control over them. But these plans could only be implemented if the enterprise was fully supplied with affordable electricity. To achieve this, RUSAL was ready to invest in the completion of the Rogun hydroelectric power station. But this is where things stalled.
According to RUSAL, there were no violations on their part. “We are consistently fulfilling all our obligations to the Republic of Tajikistan, which include the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station, as well as two electrolysis buildings on the territory of TadAZ and a new aluminum smelter in the republic,” Vera Kurochkina, head of the company’s press service, told Vremya Novostey. - However, the start of construction of factories is only possible if energy supply issues are resolved, which the Tajik side has not resolved in any way. That is why we have concentrated all our efforts on solving the problem of energy supply and are aimed at the speedy implementation of the Rogun HPP project. A feasibility study for it was prepared by the German company Lahmayer and sent to the government of Tajikistan in September.” According to her, the company hopes that this feasibility study will be discussed at the next meeting of the government commission.
Let us remember that at the end of 2004, RUSAL agreed to participate in the completion of the Rogun hydroelectric power station and was going to create new aluminum capacities based on its energy capacities. Then RUSAL stated that it was ready to invest about $150 million in the modernization of TadAZ, $600 million in the construction of two additional buildings of the enterprise with a total capacity of 600 thousand tons of primary aluminum per year. The cost of building a hydroelectric power station could exceed a billion dollars. However, disagreements that arose between the Russian investor and the Tajik authorities stalled the implementation of these programs. It is clear that for RUSAL the solution to the issue of cheap electricity supplies is fundamental. And therefore, without firm guarantees on Rogun, the company is unlikely to risk seriously investing in the development of aluminum production in Tajikistan. In addition, neighboring Uzbekistan, a supplier of natural gas to Tajikistan, recently promised to double the price of gas from 2007, which could negatively affect the profitability of the energy-intensive TadAZ.