Tashkent, Uzbekistan, August 4
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Uzbekistan considers unsatisfactory the results and conclusions of assessment reports of expertise of the Rogun HPP construction project in Tajikistan carried out under the auspices of the World Bank.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Rustam Azimov made the remarks during the discussion of the project of the World Bank report on "Key Issues for Consideration on the Proposed Rogun HPP" and the issues of transboundary water resources at the meeting with the representatives of Central Asian governments.
The project ignores the interests of cross-border states and the norms of international law on the use of international watercourses, focusing only on satisfaction of the interests of one country and complete disregard for the interests of other countries in the middle and lower reaches of the Amu Darya, according to Azimov who expressed the opinion of the Uzbek government.
The key drawback of the technical reports is that for even the slightest aspect of the project it is recommended to carry out further studies and research in the following stages of design.
"We are absolutely not satisfied that after three years of work, the operation panel of experts was not able to develop specific answers to such vital issues associated with this project, as risks of man-made disasters related to geological conditions of the proposed site of construction, potential landslides, salt formation, provision of protection of the rights of the country in the middle and lower reaches of the Amudarya on guaranteed volumes and mode of water releases, especially in the growing season, the risks to the environment of the region, analysis of the effective alternative approaches to solving the problem of winter energy shortages in Tajikistan," Uzbek deputy PM said.
In particular, it did not take into account that the Rogun HPP project developed 44 years ago, during the Soviet era, and today it is completely out of date both in terms of technical approaches and construction norms, as well as modern standards of environmental safety.
"Consultants` reports give the impression that they did not understand or deliberately ignored the fact that attitude towards the construction of these giant structures has radically changed during this time," the Uzbek representative said.
The prepared documents contain a number of flaws, defects and failures that can lead to wrong decisions fraught with Central Asian region with extremely serious catastrophic consequences, since it does not take into account sufficient real risks of the project.
First of all, high seismicity of the selected dam area for the construction, which is located in the area of the Hissar-Kokshaal and Ilyak-Vakhsh faults has been confirmed in reports of the consultants. Some 250 earthquakes with a magnitude of four and above, including 12 earthquakes with a magnitude of about six have occurred since the beginning of 2013 in the area of construction of Rogun HPP, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The experts estimate that there is a high probability of earthquakes with a magnitude of nine and above in the region.
The full text of the statement issued at the governmental portal of Uzbekistan (gov.uz).
Edited by CN
