Page 22 - bne_newspaper_July_05_2019

Weekly Lists
July 5, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
bne:
Infrastructure
Tajikistan to launch second 600MW unit of Rogun hydropower dam in September
Serbia mulls borrowing €172.5mn from Russia for infrastructure projects
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has announced that the second unit of the Rogun hydropower dam will be launched in September, Asia-Plus news agency reported on July 1.
The second unit was originally scheduled to be launched in April. However, Tajik authorities postponed the launch without announcing a specific date. Tajikistan launched the first power plant unit of the flagship hydropower dam last November, a move it had aspired to for nearly half a century. Construction restarted in late October 2016, shortly after the death of Islam Karimov, the long-ruling autocrat of neighbouring Uzbekistan who opposed the project, claiming it would reduce water flows to Uzbekistan's cotton fields.
Currently, the total capacity of Tajikistan’s hydropower plants amounts to 5,190 MW, but ageing infrastructure makes only 3,600MW of that capacity usable.
Serbia’s government is in talks with Russia for a €172.5mn credit line that would be used for infrastructure projects, broadcaster RTS reported, quoting the Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko.
In March, Serbian media reported that the government has asked Russia for the loan to fund the construction of a train dispatching centre and for railway infrastructure construction.
The export credit will finance 70% of the cost of the project, while the government in Belgrade will provide the remaining sum.
The centre will be built by Russian RZD International. The total value of the project is €230mn.
Romanian natural gas transport company Transgaz plans to carry out its major investments at a slower pace in the coming years.
This will have an impact on the expected dates of completion of the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipeline segments and of the works needed to pump natural gas to Moldova: the Ungheni- Chisinau pipeline but also the infrastructure required on Romanian territory that would assure the transfer of 1.5bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year, Mold-Street.com reported.
Specifically, the gas will be delivered to Moldova by Transgaz no sooner than 2021, while Moldova’s contract with Gazprom expires at the end of this year.
Romania’s Transgaz to further delay expansion toward Moldova