Rogun Dam

38.84204166666769.919038888889Koordinaten: 38 ° 50 ' 31 " N, 69 ° 55' 9" E

The Rogun Dam in Tajikistan (Asia) to be the highest dam of the world with 335 meters height.

Dam

The Rogun dam will be on the river Vakhsh River, a tributary of the Amu Darya River, about 100 km north-east of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe above the Nurek Dam. The dam is a 660 m long rockfill dam with 75.5 million m³ building volume, which is not yet completed.

The shut-off would be - as mentioned above - the highest of the earth; in other categories - such as the storage contents or the building volume - it is but this is far from. The second highest with 300 m dam in the world, completed in 1980 Nurek Dam, which is the highest to the completion of the Rogun Dam, is also in Tajikistan. The third highest is 285 m currently still the Grande Dixence in Switzerland, while the 292 m high Xiaowan Dam in China probably is still under construction.

The particular problem of dam building is next to the political conflict with the downstream areas of the Gharm River, Uzbekistan, the fears for the provision of water for irrigation its cotton crops that the expansion on the highest plan level up to 30,000 families would be forced to move. So far, about 1,000 households have been resettled without them an economic basis was provided as replacement. This allows for the realization of the project, a social drama of great magnitude feared.

Reservoir

The planned storage space of the Rogun reservoir is 11.6 billion cubic meters, ie 11.6 km ³. The reservoir is not yet dammed. The filling will take five to six years to complete.

Hydroelectric power station

At the dam, a hydroelectric power plant with 3600 MW capacity is planned. Thus 13.3 billion kilowatt -hours of electricity could be generated per year and large areas of Central Asia are supplied with electricity. It would be one of the largest hydroelectric power plants of the earth.

History

Plans and first work on the dam began in 1976, during the Soviet era. Since only incomplete works were carried out, which are insignificant in comparison with the total amount of the project.

After the independence of Tajikistan and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the work was stopped for lack of funds. Only a part of the underground structures ( caverns, tunnels, slides chambers etc. ) were completed. In May 1993, two cofferdams were destroyed by a flood. With the construction of the actual dam had not yet begun. On various thereafter a further construction has been announced.

After the end of the Soviet Union signed an agreement with RUSAL ( Russkiy aluminum) has been completed, the promised in the hope of favorable terms and conditions for hydro - electricity for more aluminum plants on Tajik soil to take the lion's share of the estimated $ 3 billion in construction costs up.

Tajikistan has now terminated this agreement with RusAl. RusAl expected a controlling stake in the dam society, was not willing to grant the Tajik side. According to the Russian side was not ready to larger templates. In return, the Tajik government RusAl accused contract fragility.

Tajikistan wants to invest USD 79 million annual budget was spent on the construction of the dam. Given the estimated total cost of $ 3 billion, the government needed cash but co-investors. Although the proposed capacity is so great that to cover the whole of Tajikistan 's electricity needs, including two aluminum smelters also India, Pakistan and Afghanistan could be supplied with electricity, but you should see this the overland power lines with extremely challenging terrain yet to be built. With the previously sustained refusal to grant a possible investor decisive stake in the dam company, the incentives to support the project low.

The further construction is controversial in the region. Tajikistan would be able to increasingly control the water flow in the Amu Darya, which causes distrust in the lower riparian states.

After a feasibility study of Lahmeyer International, a further construction of the project in three steps is provided in which the dam height of 225 m, 285 m and 335 m is to grow.