Tajikistan looks for investors for construction of 3 hydropower plants on Zarafshan river

Power companies of Tajikistan are looking for investors for construction of 3 hydropower plants on the Zarafshan river in the north of Tajikistan, news agency Avesta reports.
Construction of three hydropower plants on this river will allow to produce around 10 billion kWh of power annually, the Ministry of Energy and Industry said.
The hydropower plants were designed in late 1980-s. Construction of each hydropower plant will require $150-200 million.
These 3 hydropower plants will allow to fully meet power needs of the northern parts of the country and to export surplus power.
The Sinohydro planned to allocate $260 million for construction of the hydropower plants on the Zarafshan river in 2007. However, the company abandoned the idea of implementation of the project later on. Tajik government officials explained that by critical publications in Uzbek media alleging the construction of the hydropower plants may negatively affect downstream Uzbekistan.