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Uzbekistan restores power to freezing Tajikistan, but Kyrgyzstan cuts it
Bishkek (AFP) Feb 13, 2008 Kyrgyzstan said Wednesday it was cutting electricity supplies to Central Asian neighbour Tajikistan, which is in the grips of an energy crisis amid its coldest weather for 40 years. A mountainous ex-Soviet country of 7.2 million, Tajikistan is almost entirely dependent for its energy imports on Uzbekistan, which has also been feeling the strain of the cold snap. However Uzbekistan has restored power that was cut off on February 4, media reports said in Tashkent. Authorities in Tajikistan were forced to drastically ration electricity supplies to Dushanbe last week as the cold weather paralysed the republic's Soviet-era power grid. Winter temperatures that usually hover around zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) have plunged well below freezing, reaching minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. The cold has iced over a river feeding the lake that drives the Nurek hydroelectric power plant, which supplies 60 percent of the country's power. In the capital, residents have been rationed to 10 hours of electricity a day, water supplies are erratic and the urban heating system is off. Outlying regions in the mountainous Central Asian country of 7.2 million people are receiving at most 90 minutes a day of electricity, down from a four-hour limit imposed since October. Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Igor Chudinov told a cabinet meeting that Bishkek was stopping its daily supply of 11 million kilowatt hours because Dushanbe was refusing to "pay back" 55 million kwh per day once spring comes. Supplies from Uzbekistan were restored on Monday and by Tuesday daily power supply reached two million kwh, government-linked web site press-uz.info reported, citing state energy company Uzbekenergo. "The export volume will gradually increase," to reach four million kwh a day, an Uzbekenergo executive was quoted as saying. The company declined a request for confirmation. Earlier this year Uzbek gas supplies to Tajikistan were temporarily cut by a third because of debts. While Uzbekistan exports energy, much of its rural population has been suffering gas and electricity shortages as it also feels the pinch of the cold weather. Related Links
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