DUSHANBE, December 5, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Today, more than 74 percent of customers of the Pamir Energy Company (PamirEnergy) have regular power supply, according to PamirEnergy.

An official source at PamirEnergy says the company now supplies electricity to residential customers in Khorog and Shugnan and Roshtqala districts as well as parts of Ishkashim and Rushan districts 24 hours a day.

“Residential customers in Darvoz and Vanj districts, Wakhan Valley in Ishkashim district, as well as the lower part of Rushan district now have electricity 18-20 hours per day,” the source noted, adding that the main problem for providing regular electricity supply during the winter period is the large debts of customers.

To-date, the largest electricity debts have been reported in the city of Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and federally funded organizations and enterprises account for more than 50 percent of the electricity debts (1.158 million somoni).

The most incorrigible nonpayer is the Khorog municipal waterworks (Vodokanal).  As of November 1, 2013, it reportedly owed more than 918,200 somoni to PamirEnergy.  

PamirEnergy is a joint project of the Government of Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the World Bank’s private finance division, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).  A total cost of the project is some 26.5 million U.S. dollars, including the Tajik government’s contribution of 10 million U.S. dollars.

The company has a 25 year concession on the assets formerly under the management on Barqi Tojik (Tajik electricity supplier) in Gorno Badakhshan.  In exchange for this concession (management right), PamirEnergy has invested in completing the Pamir hydropower station, rehabilitating power generation, transmission and distribution assets, and improving the management of the company.