Pamir Energy Company (Pamir Energy), which supplies electricity to the majority of districts of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), wants to introduce power rationing in the area due to extreme cold weather that has hit the region in early January.

Pamir Energy Director General, Daler Jumayev, told reporters in Khorog that volumes of water in the Ghund River that powers the Pamir-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and the Khorog HPP have nearly halved because of extreme cold weather.

“Therefore, the power plants now cannot operate in full capacity and we were forced to reduce the supply of daily electricity in five of 26 sections by four hours,” Jumayev noted.

If extreme cold weather continues and volumes of water in the Ghund River continue declining, the company will be forced to introduce power rationing in all sections, the director general said.     

Meanwhile, electricity rationing that was introduced in rural areas of other regions of Tajikistan on November 1, 2016 was lifted on January 14.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a five-year civil war, Tajikistan’s electrical infrastructure required major investment. Among the most affected areas was the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), where people and economic development suffered during the cold winter months. 

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, formed the Pamir Energy Company in 2002 to address the situation. 

Pamir Energy is a joint project of the Government of Tajikistan, AKFED, the World Bank’s private finance division, the 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 the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).  In exchange for this concession (management right), Pamir Energy has invested in completing the Pamir hydropower station, rehabilitating power generation, transmission and distribution assets, and improving the management of the company.

The Pamir Private Power Project has helped to enhance development and improve welfare in GBAO by providing reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.