Salini Impregilo, the Italian contractor tasked with overseeing construction of the Roghun dam, plans to complete construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in thirteen years.

The company said on its website that the entire project, in all its phases, will cost $3.9bn to complete, and will reduce winter power shortages in Tajikistan and assist agricultural irrigation efforts, while also providing spare power for export to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Phase one is expected to be completed by April 2019, by which time two of the six turbines should be operational and producing electricity – with one of the six turbines coming online by the end of 2018.

However, it will take another seven and a half years, up to 2026, to complete the entire 61.2 million-cubic meter rockfill structure and claim the record of the tallest dam in the world, according to Salini Impregilo.

Recall, work has officially commenced on the 335m-tall Roghun dam in Tajikistan after an event attended by the country’s president, Emomali Rahmon. 

The 335m-high dam structure is being constructed on the Vakhsh River in the country’s mountainous region, where 74 million cubic meters of earth, rock and other core has already been deposited to divert the water course.

The Vakhsh River was directed towards tunnels on the left side of the mountain, facilitating efforts to dry the area where the dam’s foundations will be built. 

The Roghun HPP was first proposed in 1959 and a technical scheme was developed by 1965.  Construction began in 1976; however the project was frozen after the collapse of the Soviet Union.   

An agreement on finishing the construction was signed between Tajikistan and Russia in 1994; however, as the agreement was not implemented, it was denounced by Tajikistan parliament.

In October 2004, Tajikistan signed an agreement with Russia''s RusAl aluminum company, according to which RusAl agreed to complete the Roghun facility and rebuild the Tursunzoda aluminum smelter.  In August 2007, Tajikistan formally revoked a contract with RusAl, accusing it of failing to fulfill the contract.

In April 2008, Tajikistan founded OJSC NBO Roghun with an authorized capital of 116 million somoni for completing the construction of the Roghun HPP.  Current authorized capital of OJSC NBO Roghun reportedly amounts to more than 12 billion somoni.

To raise funds to complete construction of the Roghun HPP the government started to sell shares in Roghun to people on January 6, 2010.  Tajikistan has reportedly issued 6 billion somoni worth of Roghun shares.  To-date, the sale of Roghun shares has reportedly earned the government 830 million somoni.

In response to the request of the bordering countries and especially Uzbekistan, the World Bank has financed the Techno-Economic Assessment Study (TEAS) conducted by consortium of Coyne et Bellier, Electroconsult and IPA Energy + Water Economics, and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) conducted by Poyry. The ESIA was published on June 16, 2014 and the TEAS in July 2014.  Overall, the ESIA stated that “Most impacts are rather small and easily mitigated, if mitigation is required at all.” and that “There is no impact of the category “strong negative, mitigation not possible,” which would have to be considered as a no-go for the project.” 

In 2016, construction duties on Roghun were assigned to Italian company Salini Impregilo.

Once completed, the Roghun Hydropower Project will include six turbines and produce 3,600MW – as much as three medium-size nuclear power stations – in so doubling Tajikistan’s energy production.

Tajikistan's Vakhsh River is already home to the largest earth-filled embankment dam, the Nurek Dam, which was completed in 1980 when Tajikistan was still a republic of the Soviet Union.