Tajikistan will be putting 1 billion somoni (over $210.4 million) of state budget funds into the construction of the 3,600 mWt Rogun hydropower plant next year, which is 150 million somoni more than the spending planned for this year, the country's Finance Ministry said.
"State budget spending on the construction of the Rogun HPP in 2012 is planned at 1 billion somoni, in 2013 - 1.1 billion somoni, and in 2014 - 1.8 billion somoni," a ministry statement says.
The Tajik State Statistics Agency's data indicate that 459.8 million somoni were put into the facility's construction in January-July this year. The budget put 1.362 billion somoni into the work in 2008-2010, The Central Asian Times reported.
Rogun HPP has been under construction since Soviet times. It is reckoned that it will eventually erase Tajikistan's internal electrical power shortage of 2-3 billion kWt hours per year, and also turn the country into a power exporter to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
The Finance Ministry has estimated the cost of construction at $2.2 billion, including the launch of the first two generating units at $590 million.
Early last year, started a semi-compulsory campaign to sell citizens stock in Rogun HPP. The first few months of the campaign saw receipts of around 850 million somoni, and the campaign itself was virtually wound down under International Monetary Fund (IMF) pressure.
Uzbekistan is concerned that the building of the Kambaratin hydropower plant in Kyrgyzstan at the headwaters of the river Syr Darya, and Rogun HPP in Tajikistan at the headwaters of the river Amu Darya, will reduce the flow of these important Central Asian rivers and produce negative consequences for agriculture in countries downriver, including Uzbekistan.
The official exchange rate for August 26: 4.7521 somoni/$1.
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