Monday, June 25, 2012 -
Plans to block a major transnational river in Tajikistan this year have been postponed because studies on the controversial Rogun dam hydroelectricity project are still incomplete, a Tajik official said Monday.
International experts are in the process of evaluating the environmental, social, technical and economic viability of the massive project that the Tajik government sees as vital to solving the country’s energy needs.
The Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industries official told the local Asia-Plus news agency that governing authorities are still awaiting the results of the assessment studies.
Downstream Uzbekistan is furious that Tajikistan insists on proceeding with the project despite its warnings that Rogun will rob Uzbek cotton farmers of precious irrigation water.
In a related development, the UN diplomacy agency UNRCCA on Monday launched a seminar in neighboring Kyrgyzstan on ways to share trans-boundary water resources.
The seminar, titled “Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation on Trans-boundary Water Resources in Central Asia,” is aimed at explaining various models of cooperation to senior-level officials of the Central Asian republics and Afghanistan.
The two-day seminar is organized by the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia with the support of Washington.