Azerbaijan, Baku, November 12 / Trend, E. Kosolapova /
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan should establish cooperation to resolve the problem of the Rogun hydro power plant, Anvar Kamolidinov, Tajik expert for Central Asian water and energy issues, told Trend on Saturday.
"The combined losses of the two countries due to the absence of cooperation are no less than $4.5 billion over the past decade," Kamolidinov said.
In its appeal to the World Bank in October 2010, Uzbekistan demanded to inspect the project of the Rogun hydro power plant. The appeal read, "The Rogun Project was developed 40 years ago and does not meet modern realities." Uzbek ecologists claim the Rogun hydro power plant is located in a seismically dangerous zone so "an earthquake measured 9 on the Richter scale may break through the hydro power plant's dam."
"The countries can agree themselves if they want. Tajiks and Uzbeks live together for more than 1,000 years already and have very much in common. It is hard to believe that the temporary discords of the 20 latest years made them so distant one from another that they lost the ability to agree."
If it were a third side sincerely wishing to bring the two sides to accords the sides would not refuse to do this, he said. "However, all present candidates for mediators are busy with their own interests," he noted.
The expert said the Rogun hydro power plant was built on the basis of Tajik and world's practice.
"This construction is the safest one for mountainous areas with a certain level of seismicity," Kamolidinov said.
The best proof of construction safety of the Rogun hydro power plant's dam is the natural dams that stand in mountainous gorges for millennia, he said.
"Mountain gorge dams are very ecological as surrounding areas are flooded by tens or hundreds times lesser than usually; filtration-related water losses are incomparably lower; and the capacity of reservoir is quite sufficient to regulate water flow for the production of electricity and for irrigation needs," Kamolidinov said.
The expert noted that the ecological problems in countries in the lower reaches of Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya are related not to the Rogun hydro power plant but to a high pace of growth of the number of population and it-related food supply problems, which forces people to explore new lands.