DUSHANBE, February 28, Asia-Plus - A tripartite meeting on the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectricity project held in Washington has resulted in signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on financing the project.  

A Tajik government delegation attending the meeting consisted of Asadullo Ghulomov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Sherali Gulov, Minister of Energy and Industry, and Sirojiddin Saidov, Deputy Chairman of Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) Power Holding.  The delegation was joined by Abdujabbor Shirinov, newly appointed Tajik Ambassador to the United States.  

According to the World Bank (WB) Dushanbe Office, the delegation members from Russia’s Unified Energy Systems (RAO YeES) included Yuri Sharov, Deputy Managing Director, Vitaly Butenko, Chief Investment Officer (Inter RAO YeES) and Maxim Sergeyev, Business Development Director of Open Joint-Stock Company Sangtuda HPP-1 (OAO “Sangtuda HPP-1).

International financial institutions (IFIs) were represented by Raghuveer Sharma (Energy Program Leader for Central Asia, World Bank), Vladislav Vucetic (Lead Energy Specialist, World Bank), Imtiaz Hizkil (Senior Operations Officer, IDB), Michael Barrow (Principal Structured Finance Specialist, ADB) and Mr. Darius Lilaoonwala (Senior Manager, IFC).

The focus of this two-day meeting (February 2-21) was on the ways to attract IFIs financing to the project.  

The sides reached some very important agreements on ensuring the share of Tajikistan’s Government to remain at 25% plus one share.  RAO YeES, in this case, would maintain its share at 75% minus one share. 

A source at the WB Dushanbe Office said that however, RAO YeES expressed its desire to offer 24% of its stake to the IFIs.  “By this way, the Russian side intends to get funds to continue construction of the Sangtuda-1,” the source said.  

IFIs confirmed their interest in this equity stake. However, the project will need to be subjected to a thorough due diligence (financial, legal, technical, social and environmental) that would fully comply with the IFI standards.  The parties agreed that this work would need at least 5-6 months to complete. 

The source added that for its part, the Tajik Government made a request to IFIs, in particular to the World Bank, to provide a loan for purchasing those 24 percent of shares offered by RAO YeES to IFIs.  World Bank stated that such financing is envisaged on an IBRD enclave basis, meaning commercial loan terms basis.