BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 12. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recently pledged more resources to increase the reliability and sustainability of electricity supply in Tajikistan by organizing a financial facility of up to 31 million euros for national transmission network operator Shabaqahoi Intiqoli Barq, Regional Head of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the EBRD, Ayten Rustamova told Trend.
“The facility consists of two EBRD sovereign loans totaling up to 23 million euros and an investment grant of up to 8 million euros. The funds will help rehabilitate the existing transformer and construct a new one at the Sugd-500 substation in the north of the country. The project will also be supported by an investment grant of up to 2 million euros from the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund,” she said.
Rustamova added that this project builds on the success of the EBRD’s recently completed Sugd energy loss-reduction project, which demonstrated the effectiveness of modern metering and billing systems by cutting network losses in the region’s main city of Khujand from 27 percent to 10 percent and by improving payment collections to nearly 100 percent.
“Supported by grant funds from the Sustainable Infrastructure Fund and the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund, this project is expected to bring significant environmental benefits to the Sugd region, such as an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 129,000 tonnes. It will also help to ensure the smooth introduction to the grid of pilot renewable energy projects in the Sugd region,” she said.
The regional head also highlighted the Qairokkum HPP rehabilitation project, which involved the EBRD securing concessional financing from Climate Investment Funds and the Green Climate Fund. This funding was used to modernize a 60-year-old hydropower plant that supplies electricity to nearly 500,000 individuals.
As of February 29, 2024, the EBRD's current project portfolio in Tajikistan was 507 million euros for 72 active projects. Overall, the EBRD has committed 946 million euros to 168 projects throughout the country.
