Uzbekistan, Tashkent, March 21 / Trend D. Azizov /
Uzbekistan plans to begin modernizing the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant worth $468 million in 2012, a source in the State Joint Stock Company "Uzbekenergo" told Trend today.
Uzbekenergo signed an additional agreement with the general contractor - an international consortium consisting of Slovak Synecta as , Istroenergo Group, and Canadian SNC Lavalin in December last year, resuming the suspended contract worth $410 million, the interlocutor said.
It is expected that the practical realization of the project can be started in the second half of this year.
Uzbekistan stressed its intention to modernize the Tashkent thermal power plant worth $468 million more than 10 years ago.
The project envisages the construction of a new energy block of the combined-cycle unit. Its capacity is 370 megawatts. The introduction of combined-cycle unit will increase the capacity of power plant and improve the technical, economic and environmental indices of the power plant.
Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), "Uzbekenergo" and the Uzbek Finance Ministry signed a loan agreement in May 2002 to allocate the loan for the project amounting to 24.955 billion yen.
Uzbekenergo signed a contract with the Slovak-Canadian consortium for the project implementation in 2009. But the contract was suspended in 2010. According to the Uzbek side, members of the consortium failed to comply with technical and financial terms of the contract.
It is not reported about the terms of the contract.
Besides the Japanese loan, the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant modernization project is planned to be financed through a loan of the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund, Uzbekenergo and loans from local banks.
At present, the installed capacity of the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant is 1,860 megawatts. The first unit was commissioned in 1963, and the twelfth one - in 1971.