Kyrgyzstan's Kambarata HPP-1 project to receive World Bank technical support of $5 mln

BISHKEK. March 4 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan will receive financial support from the World Bank for implementing the project to construct the Kambarata Hydroelectric Power Plant-1, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov's press service said in a statement.

"An agreement on providing technical assistance for the Kambarata HPP-1 project has been ratified between Kyrgyzstan and the World Bank, and President Sadyr Japarov has signed the corresponding law," the press service said.

Kyrgyzstan will receive a loan of $3 million and grant funds of $2 million. The money will be used particularly to update the feasibility study of the project to construct the HPP and to assess the technical feasibility of the project.

Cabinet Chairman Akylbek Zhaparov at the end of February 2024 announced that the Kyrgyz government had raised $1 billion to construct Kambarata HPP-1. "We have found investments totaling $500 million in Geneva, and we will allocate another $500 million from the budget. We will build a bridge and a workers' village by the autumn of this year," Japarov said, adding that $4.5 billion is needed to launch Kambarata HPP-1 into operation.

Kyrgyz Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Bakyt Torobayev at the end of August 2023 said that the process to prepare for constructing Kambarata HPP-1 was being completed. Specifically, the construction of highways, substations, power lines, tunnels, bridges, and construction camps is being completed. Work is also underway simultaneously to establish a joint venture with the participation of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The 1860 MW hydropower plant is expected to generate 5 billion kWh of electricity per year. According to preliminary estimates, the height of the dam will be 256 meters, and the volume of water accumulated at the HPP could exceed 5 billion cubic meters.

The Kyrgyz government said that the first hydroelectric unit of Kambarata HPP-1 is planned to be put into operation in eight years.

Bishkek in January 2016 denounced the agreements signed with the Russian Federation in September 2012 on the construction and operation of the Upper Naryn cascade of HPPs and Kambarata HPP-1. The Kyrgyz government at the time said that one of the reasons was the lack of decisions on financing projects, as well as the serious increase in the cost of loans proposed by the Russian side that could be raised for construction.