Tajikistan: Concrete reasons for delayed hydropower
According to Interfax, Tajikistan’s big hydropower plant in work, is delayed again. This time: no concrete deliveries. Therefore, the plant–scheduled for its ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 21 or 22–is delayed until “late December or early January”.
Excerpt No. 1: Power to the People
Tajikistan is rich in hydro resources, however, it lacks 3 - 3.5 billion kilowatts of electricity in winter time. Last winter blackouts occurred even in Dushanbe, as well as rural areas, where about 75% of Tajik of the population lives. There were no electricity deliveries in Tajikistan from last October to this March.
Excerpt No 2: Potential power to the state
We can only hope, for the good of South and Central Asia, that President Rakhmon’s aspirations come true. The potential is realistically there, if they can just get this plant to operate. Not to mention that power supply is necessary to develop the economy in general, the power can be exported:
Tajikistan plans to be the largest electricity exporter in Central Asia. Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan have already stated they are ready to buy cheap electricity generated at Tajik hydropower plants.
Concrete and World Markets
However, the reason for a lack of cement for this project are very real. One of Tajikistan’s neighbors–that would be China– currently dominates the demand for Portland cement and specialty cements–in 2005, a 199 billion Yen market, according to the abstract of a Freedonia paper, and a growth rate in demand at 5.1% per annum across the types of concrete available. By 2010, China will represent 36% of the demand for concrete. That is, if they don’t already.
Dreams are abstract: it’s tough to make them concrete.
Further Reading: from this blog
Kyrgyzstan’s Hydropower Dilemmas and Hydropower Opportunities
December 18th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
[…] Bboyd reports that the launch of Tajikistan’s big hydropower plant is delayed again due to lack of concrete deliveries. Share This […]
December 24th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I did suspect that cement supply would be a problem in building such large-scale hydropower projects. However, I also recognized that the “project managers” are at least smart enough not to face such a supply bottleneck.
If Russia undertakes the construction, the supply of cement could very well not pose any threat. The railway infrastructure connecting Tajikistan to Rssia and the political implication of this project to Russia will make the “dream” a reality, albiet at a higher economic/political cost than other alternatives.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Dear $ylon,
I wish more people tracked things like cement production and railway routes. We would all understand foreign policy in a much better way than we do at present.
Thanks for the comment.
Bonnie