A few days ago, the President of the Asian Development Bank, Masazu Asakawa, accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan, Ushmundzoda, made a special trip to the Gravnaya Hydropower Station in Tajikistan, which was jointly constructed by the 16th Bureau of Hydropower and the EDC Capital Institute for the technical improvement project, and all five units were connected to the grid on April 25 this year. The strength and integrity of CEC in rejuvenating this aged hydropower station, which has been operating unstably and with frequent failures for nearly 60 years, was highly praised.
Masazu Asakawa praised the new hydropower plant both inside and outside, and expressed his admiration for CEC’s efforts to overcome the difficulties of technical improvement and epidemic interference to ensure the completion of the project on schedule and with high quality. He said that the Asian Development Bank is committed to supporting the infrastructure development of Asian countries, especially the improvement and development of the energy sector. The Gravnaya Hydropower Project is a successful example of cooperation between ADB and the Government of Tajikistan, and is a good reference for other Asian countries in their energy improvement and development. The Asian Development Bank looks forward to cooperating with strong and honest Chinese companies like CEC on more projects to jointly promote the improvement and development of energy facilities in Asian countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Ushmundzoda once again expressed his gratitude to CEC for its help in improving energy facilities in Tajikistan and hoped that CEC would provide more technical support for the construction of energy facilities in Tajikistan.
The Gravnaya hydroelectric power station was built during the Soviet era and completed in 1964. With an original installed capacity of 240 MW, it has been in operation for nearly 60 years, with frequent breakdowns and highly unstable operation. The unit, main transformer, tailwater canal, irrigation canal and metal structure are in urgent need of technical renovation. On October 17, 2016, a consortium consisting of the 16th Bureau of Hydropower and the EDI Capital Institute won the tender for the technical improvement project of the power station.
Since the start of the technical improvement project, the project team jointly formed by the 16th Bureau of Hydropower and EDCI has overcome many difficulties such as the new epidemic and the non-stop operation of the power station, and has carefully designed and tailored the technical improvement project with high quality construction. The installed capacity was increased to 270 MW, which completely solved the long-standing problem of electricity shortage in the country.
