DUSHANBE -- The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is disputing claims by the Tajik power company Barqi Tojik that it owes some 96 million somoni ($22 million) in unpaid electricity bills, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Barqi Tojik said last week that TALCO should repay the debt urgently.
But TALCO -- Tajikistan's greatest industrial asset -- said on August 7 that it owed 96 million somoni to Barqi Tojik from 1996-2004 but that in 2005 the government issued a special order and restructured TALCO's debt, writing off some 60 million somonis.
TALCO, which consumes some 40 percent of Tajikistan's electricity, says it paid Barqi Tojik 6 million somoni and renovated the Tajik nitrogen plant and gave it to Barqi Tojik.
Talco added that it paid $52 million this winter for the export of electricity from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan, which was used not only by TALCO but also by Barqi Tojik customers.
Barqi Tojik reportedly owes some $10 million to Tajiktransgas for natural gas and more than $20 million to the Sangtuda-1 hydropower station for energy.
Barqi Tojik said the Tajik Water Resources Ministry and some other strategic companies besides TALCO have not yet repaid their debts to Barqi Tojik.
Barqi Tojik said last week that TALCO should repay the debt urgently.
But TALCO -- Tajikistan's greatest industrial asset -- said on August 7 that it owed 96 million somoni to Barqi Tojik from 1996-2004 but that in 2005 the government issued a special order and restructured TALCO's debt, writing off some 60 million somonis.
TALCO, which consumes some 40 percent of Tajikistan's electricity, says it paid Barqi Tojik 6 million somoni and renovated the Tajik nitrogen plant and gave it to Barqi Tojik.
Talco added that it paid $52 million this winter for the export of electricity from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan, which was used not only by TALCO but also by Barqi Tojik customers.
Barqi Tojik reportedly owes some $10 million to Tajiktransgas for natural gas and more than $20 million to the Sangtuda-1 hydropower station for energy.
Barqi Tojik said the Tajik Water Resources Ministry and some other strategic companies besides TALCO have not yet repaid their debts to Barqi Tojik.