DUSHANBE, October 1. /TASS/. A 4.5 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday shook eastern Tajikistan where the country is building the Rogun hydropower power plant, the Geodetic Service of the National Academy of Sciences said.
The earthquake centred 76 km north-east of Dushanbe and just 10 km from the Rogun HPP construction site. The plant will have a rated capacity of 3,600 MW and the world’s tallest dam of 335 metres.
No incidents or emergencies have been reported. This is the second earthquake in the area.
Tajikistan’s decision to build the plant in the Pamir mountains with a capacity of 3,600 MW and a 335-metre dam, the highest in the world, has antagonised some of the countries in the region, primarily Uzbekistan, which think that the construction of the facility in a seismic area may cause a man-made and environment disaster.
Water management and distribution of water resources in the region is vital for the Central Asian countries which have signed about 150 agreements to resolve the issue.
The project to build the Rogun hydropower plant was conceived in the Soviet Union in 1978 and was based on cooperation between Soviet republics. In the post-Soviet period, cooperation dwindled and each country in the region has been pursuing its own water and energy policy.
In 2010, the World Bank undertook to conduct an independent assessment of the project to find out how safe it will be for all countries in the region. The construction work has been on hold ever since.
The World Bank has made its findings available to all interested parties and will take into account their suggestions and recommendations before releasing the final version of its report.