(Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English)
DUSHANBE. Jan 4 (Interfax) - Turkmenistan has suspended electricity export to Tajikistan, because the latter lacks a transit agreement with neighboring Uzbekistan, deputy chief engineer at the Tajikistan's Energy company Rashid Gulov told Interfax on Sunday.
"We have so far been unable to reach a consensus with our Uzbek colleagues on this issue, that is why Turkmenistan stopped delivering electricity to Tajikistan," Gulov said.
"Last year, a similar agreement was signed only after Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov got involved in the situation," he said.
Dushanbe and Ashgabat reached an agreement in October 2008 that Turkmenistan would increase electricity export to Tajikistan by 8.3% to 1.3 billion kilowatt per hour in December 2008 - January 2009.
Tajikistan lacks up to 2.5 billion kilowatts per hour in winter periods. Russia's Inter RAO and Iranian companies are building the Sangtuda-1 and Sangtuda-2 hydropower plants, which will allow to meet Tajikistan's domestic demand in electricity and even export it during summers.
Tajikistan produced 13.696 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity in January - November 2008, a 15% decrease compared to the same period in 2007, and imported 4.703 billion kilowatts of electricity worth $78.5 million in that period. Electricity is accounted to 3.1% in the country's trade balance.
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