Tajikistan owes $49 million for gas to Uzbekistan
To be honest, I am tired of saying “in addition to” this and that when I talk about the energy crisis in Tajikistan, but anyway. In addition to all the problems that we already have with energy, Uzbekistan decided to limit the supply of gas to Tajikistan. The main reason is debt (rus).
The main debtor of Tojikgas is BarqiTojik [electricity monopolist] and Tajikcement. The debt constitutes about 5 million and 2,5 million USD respectively. The population also has a big debt, which constitutes 144 million somonis (41,5 million USD). Tajikgas also reports that currently Tajikistan receives 2 million cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan, instead of 3 million agreed in the end of 2007.
It is also worth mentioning that this debt was accumulated during the year of 2007 when a price for gas was 100 USD, and I don’t know what is going to happen this year when the price was raised to 145 USD. I’m afraid we will not be able to pay that price and Uzbekistan will totally cut off gas for us. Since Uzbekistan is the main supplier of gas, the economy of the country will be in trouble.
on January 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
if we look at this problem as a simple individual, the situation is worsened due to ‘dishonest’ officials responsible for collecting monthly taxes for gas consumption from separate households. I’ve personally seen how they “forgive” debts for small incentive. It may seem unimportant first, but in the end it costs our government thousands of somoni. Anyway there is always room for discussion and negotiations and i am sure that there must be something to make Uzbekistan meet us halfway. Shall all our plans come true!