Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan sign memorandum on Kambarata-1 dam, outline stakes

BISHKEK. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have signed a memorandum of intent for the project to build the Kambarata-1 Hydropower Plant in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Deputy Energy Minister Taalaibek Baigaziyev said at a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday.

He said Kyrgyzstan will tentatively have a 34% stake in the project, and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will each have 33%. But the issue of the actual agreement has not been decided yet.

Deputy Prime Minister Bakyt Torobayev said at the end of August that the process of preparing for the construction of the Kambarata-1 HPP is nearing completion, including the building of a highway, substations, power lines, tunnels, bridges and worker camps. Concurrently, efforts are underway to form a joint venture with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, he said.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said in June 2022 that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were prepared to invest in the construction of Kambarata-1 and that the countries had drawn up a roadmap for implementing the project.

The 1,860 MW power plant is expected to generate 5 billion kWh of electricity per year. The dam will be 256 meters high and the amount of water accumulated at the plant could exceed 5 billion cubic meters, according to preliminary estimates.

The Kyrgyz government has said that the first generating unit at the plant is scheduled to go into operation in eight years.

In January 2016, Kyrgyzstan renounced agreements signed with Russia in September 2012 on the construction and operation of the Upper Naryn hydro cascade and Kambarata-1 HPP. The Kyrgyz government at the time attributed this in part to the absence of decisions on financing for the projects, as well as Russia's proposal to significantly increase the cost of loans that might be raised for construction.