Two years after signing a roadmap on the development of the Kambarata-1 hydropower plant, vitality ministers from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan gathered in Tashkent with World Financial institution officers for a roundtable dialogue on the undertaking.
In response to Uzbek media outlet Daryo.uz, Uzbek Power Minister Jurabek Mirzamahmudov hailed the undertaking, stating that it might carry “nice advantages to all of Central Asia, strengthen regional vitality safety, speed up the transition to a ‘inexperienced’ economic system, and enhance using water assets.”
Kyrgyz Power Minister Taalaibek Ibraev called Kambarata-1 “the undertaking of the century,” owing to its “huge potential to strengthen regional cooperation and promote long-term improvement of all the Central Asian area.”
Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Power Sungat Yessimkhanov, main Astana’s delegation, also noted the project’s potential to “guarantee long-term stability in our area and stimulate the long run socio-economic progress of our nations.”
In 2023, when the three nations agreed to a roadmap concerning the deliberate hydropower undertaking, to be constructed on Kyrgyzstan’s Naryn River, I summarized its tumultuous latest historical past:
Kambar-Ata-1 (additionally written as Kambarata-1) just isn’t a brand new proposal. Certainly, the primary such hydropower undertaking on the web site was begun in 1986, however development fell sufferer to the Soviet collapse in 1991. By 2008, Russia had taken up the Kambar-Ata-1 undertaking and the Higher Naryn Cascade undertaking and pledged funding; nevertheless, little precise work was finished and by 2014 — particularly after Russia invaded Crimea — it grew to become clear that the tasks have been not a precedence for Moscow.
In late 2015, then-Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev was overtly questioning Russia’s dedication, saying in an end-of-year press convention: “I don’t like uncompleted development tasks, one needs to be life like. All of us see the state of the Russian economic system, it’s, shall we embrace, not on the rise, and for goal causes, these agreements (on the development of hydropower crops) can’t be carried out by the Russian get together.”
After all, the query then grew to become: If not Russia, who would fund this huge undertaking?
In reply, the three Central Asian states have appeared to the worldwide group, with the World Financial institution stepping in. The multilateral lender permitted an preliminary $5 million in technical help in October 2023, primarily to replace the undertaking’s feasibility research. The Phrase Financial institution adopted that in June 2024 with the approval of $13.6 million for the undertaking. As Hydro Evaluate reported at the time, the extra financing was offered “on extremely concessional phrases via the Worldwide Growth Affiliation.” The IDA is a member of the World Financial institution Group that provides concessional loans and grants for tasks on this planet’s poorest nations. The extra financing included $11 million in zero-interest credit score, and a $2.6 million grant from the Central Asia Water and Power Program (CAWEP).
The World Financial institution’s financing actually strikes the undertaking alongside, however extra shall be wanted. A previous feasibility research positioned the overall undertaking value at round $3 billion; the up to date feasibility research will have to be accomplished earlier than the present determine is thought. The regular beat of conferences – together with in Vienna, Brussels, and Washington in 2024 – spotlight the coordination and cooperation between the three governments and their worldwide companions.
Tajikistan’s Minister of Power and Water Sources Daler Juma and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Power Orkhan Zeynalov attended the Tashkent meeting as visitors, additional highlighting the extent of regional cooperation on this enviornment.
At a time when Russia, Central Asia’s conventional accomplice in lots of sectors, is embroiled in battle in Europe, and China is already closely invested in quite a few regional tasks – such because the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway – the Kambarata-1 undertaking marks a high-point for intra-regional cooperation. The taking part states will definitely have to look additional overseas for funding, however the excessive diploma of regional cooperation behind the undertaking is a powerful promoting level.
