Tag Archives: environment

Georgia suspends controversial hydro-dam project

TBILISI/MARCH 12 (The Bulletin) — Apparently bowing to pressure from environmentalists and local residents, the Georgian government suspended work on the construction of its Namakhvani Hydro Power Project.

Natia Turneva, the Georgian economy minister, said that the project had been suspended to allow for extra studies on the “reliability and safety” of the project.

“This is a very important large hydropower plant with an installed capacity of 430 MW. It will bring in $800 million in foreign direct investments,” she said.

This is the line that the government has consistently taken with the project, one of the most controversial energy projects in Georgia.

Police and demonstrators have clashed near the construction site of the Namakhvani HPP on the Rioni River in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains. It is slated to be the largest power plant in Georgia when it is complete, generating 15% of Georgia’s energy.

Ms Turneva said that Georgian experts and institutions would be hired to carry out independent surveys of the impact of the dam on the environment and on local communities and that a $1.5m Rioni Gorge Development Fund would be set up to help people relocate.

The hydropower project, which is being developed in two parts — a Lower Namakhvani HPP (333 MW) and the Upper Namakhvani HPP (100 MW) — is being financed by international donors, including the Norway-based Clean Energy Group, and is being constructed by Enka, Turkey’s largest construction company.

Protesters, who complain about the environmental damage and the forced resettling of people from the area, have blocked access to the site for more than four months. They said that the government couldn’t suspend the project as construction work had not started yet.

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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Tajik president calls for “Year of the Glacier” to highlight Global Warming

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MARCH 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon said that a “Year of the Glacier” was needed to draw attention to the impact of global warming on glaciers. The Pamir Mountains dominate Tajikistan and hold world-renowned glaciers. One of them is the 75km-long Fedchenko Glacier, the longest glacier in the world outside the Polar regions, which Mr Rakhmon said had retreated by 1km.

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— This story was published in issue 474 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 5 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Major Tbilis park closed for renovations

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FEB. 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — The Tbilisi city authorities closed Vake Park, one of the city’s favourite and largest parks, for renovation. Residents are worried that the park will be given a heavy-handed makeover and have said that they like the dilapidated feel of the park and space that it gives them. City officials have said they will retain the park’s character.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Kyrgyz government publishes plan to improve Bishkek air

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JAN. 6 2021 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s government published a 40-point plan to improve the air quality in Bishkek after meters recorded it as being the worst in the world this winter. The cold winter air traps fumes generated by old cars bought in Europe, smoggy heating systems and the city’s waste dump. Smog has cloaked the city and obscured the famously blue skies for weeks. Analysts have said previous plans to improve air quality have failed because of corruption.

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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Tajikistan is facing most serious drought ever, says deputy PM

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DEC. 22 2020 (The Bulletin) — Davlatali Said, Tajikistan’s deputy PM, said that the country was facing the most serious drought on record. The statement was an unusually candid one by a senior member of the Tajik government on the water shortages in Tajikistan’s reservoirs that have dented power generation at its hydropower stations. Tajikistan is trying to set itself up as a major regional power exporter.

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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

EBRD starts cleaning up toxic Soviet mines in Kyrgyzstan

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JULY 29 (The Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that work to clean up a toxic Soviet uranium mine in south Kyrgyzstan had begun. Poisonous legacy pits and disused mines dot the region and the EBRD is funding work to clean them up. This project is focused on Shekaftar, near Jalal-Abad, where the USSR worked a uranium mine until 1968. The disused mine is still radioactive.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Water shortage triggers concerns on Tajik power generation

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DUSHANBE/JULY 28 (The Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s national energy company Barqi Tojik said that a shortage of water in its reservoirs had reduced its electricity generation capacity and forced it to cut its power exports.

Water shortages and electricity cuts are a concern for Tajikistan as power is one of its main exports. The headline Rogun dam, the biggest hydroelectric dam in the world, is due for completion by 2028 and has been earmarked to boost Tajikistan’s power exports but, without sufficient water, it could become a white elephant.

In a live TV address, a government official from the ministry of power said that water levels in the Vakhsh and Panj rivers were lower than at any time since records began.

“Today, the Nurek reservoir has 17m less water in it than last year,” he said. “If this situation continues, the reservoir will be severely depleted, and in winter there will be serious problems in providing electricity to the population and the national economy.”

The Nurek reservoir is situated about 40km from Dushanbe, slightly lower down the same river system as Rogun. This means that if there is a shortage of water for Nurek, there will be a shortage of water for Rogun.

The government blamed global warming for the water shortages.

“The process of climate change and global warming is going on rapidly on the planet, and its impact, especially this year on Tajikistan, has intensified,” the spokesman said.

The immediate concern, though, is that Tajikistan doesn’t have enough water in its reservoirs to power its electricity generating capacity. Tajikistan, Central Asia’s poorest country, has already cut electricity transmission levels to Uzbekistan and analysts are worried that it won’t be able to meet its obligations for the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 project.

By 2023, CASA-1000 should be operating a network of electricity transmission masts that will carry power generated in Tajik and Kyrgyz hydro systems, across Afghanistan into Pakistan. The West sees it as a win-win-win. Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan earn much-needed cash, Pakistan buys up much-needed power and the West earn kudos.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Caspian seals are now under threat, says Kazakhstan

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JULY 27 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh officials said that the population of the Caspian seal, unique to the Caspian Sea, has declined by 90% over the past 100 years. It said that the population of the seals was now at around 100,000 and that they would be placed on the government’s endangered list. It blamed over hunting during the Soviet Union and release of toxins from industry and the oil and gas sector as the main reasons for the decline.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Lydian says court backs it in dispute with government

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FEB. 27 2020 (The Bulletin) — Toronto-based Lydian International said that a court in Armenia had dismissed eight of 10 criticisms of its operations at the Amulsar gold mine in the south of the country, including that it had mined illegally and that protected and near-extinct animal species had been found on its site. Lydian has been stopped since June 2018 from accessing the mine by protesters who have blocked the access road. They have complained that Lydian’s operations were ruining the environment, a standpoint that the Armenian mining inspection body agreed with in August 2018. Lydian said the rulings were politically motivated at the time.

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— This story was first published in issue 438 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Uzbekistan wants cement manufacturers to pollute less

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NOV. 27 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s government is considering introducing a law that would force cement producers to measure and monitor their air pollution. The move is an indication that governments in the region may start to take more seriously the issue of worsening air quality. Other the past few years, Central Asia’s cities have become choked with car exhaust fumes and factory smog. Feeding demand from a booming construction industry, Uzbekistan’s cement sector is one of its fastest-growing industries.
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— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.