The RAO UESR v. Basel standoff may go beyond Russia. Vedomosti reports that Basel intends to invest in constructing Rogunskaya TPP in Tadjikistan - one of the largest unfinished construction projects of the Soviet time. RAO has the same intention, and the government offered sponsorship from the budget.
When his China visit is over, President Vladimir Putin is going to head to Tajikistan. Oleg Deripaska, Chairman of the Basel Board of Directors, is among the President’s party. The aluminum mogul wishes to discuss with the Tajik authorities the possibility of completing Rogunskaya TPP, a Kremlin source told Vedomosti. The project costs are estimated to reach $1 bln.
A Eurosibenergo (which manages Basel’s energy assets) representative has confirmed Deripaska’s plans to Vedomosti. According to the representative, the Group is interested in completing a few hydroelectric power plants in Tajikistan including Rogunskaya. Vedomosti’s interlocutor explains, that Basel may need the power plants if it is able to gain control over Tajik Aluminum Plant. Currently, the government owns the aluminum plant, but plans to sell it by 2007. Basel does not have a definite business plan, though.
Here Basel may have to fight its long-time opponent RAO UESR over the right to complete the Tajik power plants. Their interests have already overlapped in three Russian power plants: Sayano-Shushenskaya, Krasnoyarskaya and unfinished Boguchanskaya. The energy holding started expanding beyond Russia a year ago, and its CEO Anatoly Chubais stated a few times that RAO UESR was greatly interested in the Tajik power plants. Earlier, Chubais had declared that RAO UESR wished to complete Sangtudinskaya and Rogunskaya power plants. It was reported yesterday that the government could help the energy holding make it happen. The government ordered in late summer that the ministries prepare their proposals on how to use the stabilization fund money. The Minister of Industry and Energy was the first to return a proposal to allot $1.3–1.4 bln. for RAO UESR’s expansion into the Central Asia. A Ministry source explained to Vedomosti that they were referring the completion of two Kamartinskaya power plants in Kirghizia and two power plants in Tajikistan. Minister Viktor Khristenko and Anatoly Chubais will also accompany President Putin on his trip to Dushanbe.
As of yesterday, Vedomosti could not find out the Ministry of Finance’s opinion regarding the governmental sponsorship of RAO UESR. Officials with the Ministry of Economic Development think there are difficulties in lending such support. “In order to make such plans possible, we need to change the current budget structure. It is hard to say when this happens”, Andrey Klepach, Chief of the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Macroeconomic Forecast, speculates.
An official in the Ministry of Industry and Utilities believes that the government can offer RAO UESR a state guarantee for the above amount and approve its inclusion into the energy holding’s investment program. In his opinion, if the project is approved, it is unlikely to accommodate any other investors including Basel. However, the Basel representative thinks it is a question of negotiations as the completion of the four power plants may require many more resources than those in the Ministry’s proposal. Even two projects alone — Sangtudinskaya and Rogunskaya power plants — are too expensive for one investor to handle, a source in the energy holding agrees.
RAO UESR is more interested in Sangtudinskaya power plant, Andrey Trapeznikov, a member of the holding’s management board, agrees. “It is a more realistic project which is better developed than the completion of Rogunskaya power plant. We are looking at it too, but haven’t reviewed it in much detail”, he explains.
According to the RAO source, Rogunskaya power plant is most important to the owner of Tadjik Aluminum Plant which is not operating to capacity mainly due to a power deficit. Brunswick UBS analyst Fedor Tregubenko also thinks that it is economically rational for the investor to gat both the aluminum plant and the power plant. Vladimir Milov, President of the Institute for Energy Policy, adds that it is possible to build so many power plants in Tadjikistan, that their power volumes will be enough to both develop local businesses and export to Russia.
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