Baku, Azerbaijan, May 27
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
Tajikistan delays in paying off the debts for power purchase to Iranian contractor, which constructed a power plants in this country," Sattar Mahmoudi, the deputy energy minister of Iran told Fars news agency May 27.
He added that acording to the agreement, Tajikistan should have paid $1 million per month for purchasing electricity from Sangtuda 2 hydroelectric power plant, constructed by an Iranian private company (Farab Co.) in this country, but during the last four years, Dushanbe has paid only $34 million to Iran.
Mahmoudi added that the power plant has faced financial problems due to payment delays and has stopped working several times.
"Tajikistan says it has economic problems to pay off debts," Mahmoudi said.
The 220-megawatts Sangtuda 2 power plant generated about 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Iranian Farab Company will operate the power plant for 14.5 years, based on agreement and the generated electricity must be purchased by Tajikistan's government.