Tajikistan: Uzbek Gas Exports Resume, Debt Remains

Uzbekistan has increased the volume of gas reaching Tajikistan. As a result, some major industrial plants will be able to resume production, but Tajikistan's outsize debt to Uztransgaz has not yet been cleared.

Shavkat Shoimov, the deputy chairman of Tajiktransgaz, said Tajikistan was now receiving enough gas for the Tajikcement plant to re-open. That, in turn, would allow construction to resume on the Sangtuda-1 hydropower station. Work had been suspended due to a lack of building materials, in addition to cash-flow problems.

"If in the past we have received from Uzbekistan only 6,000 cubic meters (tcm) of natural gas per hour, which is enough to ensure only the needs of the Tajik Aluminum Company, starting this morning we are receiving 20/tcm on an hourly basis," the Asia Plus news agency quoted Shoimov as saying on June 22.

Tajikistan, however, remains at the mercy of Uzbek goodwill until it clears an $18 million debt to Uztransgaz.