Tajik president gives priority to energy security.

9/12 Tass 113

DUSHANBE, December 9 (Itar-Tass) - Tajikistani President Emomali
Rakhmon believes, the energy security of his county is a priority for the
government.

"Every winter, when an energy crisis sets in, I suffer together with
the nation," the Tajik leader stated.
"As for the head of state, it was very painful for me when in the
winter of 2008, newborns were dying in hospitals because of power
shortages," Rakhmon said adding, "the soonest completion of the
construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power plant is a matter of life
and death for us."
"The whole Tajikistan is aware of the significance of Rogun," the
president said. He urged the population not to stand aloof from the
on-going campaign to raise funds for the construction of this strategic
facility and purchase HPP shares.
At the same time, he made it clear that citizens' contributions and
the purchasing of shares should be absolutely voluntary. "We're not going
to force anybody," Rakhmon said.
In a recent speech, the Tajik leader stated that every Tajik family,
except those with low incomes, should purchase 689 U.S. dollars worth of
Rogun HPP shares (the equivalent of 3,000 somoni, the Tajik currency).
The Tajik society's response to the president's initiative was
controversial. The leader of Tajikistan's Opposition Social-Democratic
Party Rakhmatillo Zoiirov called "the authorities' bid to make the
population shoulder the construction of the Rogun HPP "amoral," as the
majority of the population is unable to purchase its shares due to abject
poverty.
The Tajik authorities announced the Rogun HPP "a national asset and
state property which is not subject to privatisation."
This scared away foreign and Russian investors from the participation
in finishing the construction of the HPP. The estimated cost of the
facility is 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.
-0-myz/kud