The Tajik National Energy Holding «Barki Tojik» has concluded a number of strategically important agreements aimed at the financial recovery of the company. The key agreements relate to the restructuring of multimillion-dollar debts to Sangtuda HPP-1 and HPP-2. Deputy head of the company Rustam Majidzoda announced this during a press conference in Dushanbe, commenting on the implementation of the government decree to stabilize the situation in the energy sector.
The most significant achievement was the agreement with OJSC «Sangtuda HPP-1», the controlling stake of which belongs to Russian companies. The parties agreed to write off the colossal debt «Barki Tojik» in the amount of $297 million. This process, however, will not be immediate. According to the conditions achieved, the write-off will take place in stages over eight years. «This debt will be written off between 2025 and 2033 –25 million dollars annually, subject to timely and full payment for current supplies», – Majidzoda explained. He also emphasized that since the beginning of the year, the amount of debt to this station has remained unchanged, which indicates the complexity of the problem.
In addition to the debt restructuring, the agreement with «Sangtuda-1» includes an unprecedented reduction in the tariff for supplied electricity. The cost of a kilowatt–hour for «Barki tojik» will be reduced by more than half – from 3.2 to 1.5 cents. To make such concessions possible, a protocol was signed to amend the intergovernmental agreement between Tajikistan and Russia. This document extends the period for return on investment in the construction of hydroelectric power stations by 15 years – from 20 to 35 years, postponing the final period until 2048.
Similar negotiations were crowned with success with OJSC «HPP Sangtuda-2», in the construction of which Iran played a key role. An agreement was reached with this station to extend the debt repayment period. According to Rustam Majidzoda, «Barki Tojik»’s debt to «Sangtuda-2» has reached an impressive amount of 3.7 billion somoni, and the new agreement gives the energy holding the necessary respite to stabilize financial flows.
These measures are part of a wider campaign to clear the balance «Barki tojik». In particular, part of the company’s debt to the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan was written off. We are talking about loans that were attracted under government guarantees for the implementation of various investment projects in the electricity industry. Thanks to this, the volume of such debts was reduced to 12 billion somoni.
At the same time, despite the positive changes, the financial position of the energy holding remains tense. The company continues to accumulate new debts. Thus, as of July 1 of this year, the debt «Barki Tojik» to the Rogun hydroelectric power station under construction for electricity already received amounted to 1 billion somoni, which indicates persistent systemic problems in the country’s energy sector.
