The 600 MW first turbine of the 3,600 MW Rogun (also spelled Roghun) hydropower dam on the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan has started operations. The US$3.9bn project is being built gradually by the Italian company Salini Impregilo and the remaining turbines will come online between 2019 and 2026. Once built, it will enable Tajikistan to end domestic power shortages and to export electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Vakhsh river also comprises the 2,100 MW (3,000 MW gross) Nurek (also labelled as Nyrek) hydropower plant, which is located downstream of the Rogun project. In August 2018, the international technology Group Andritz won a €120m (US$137m) contract for the modernization of the entire electro-mechanical equipment at the Nurek plant, which is currently 77% operational and has not gone gone through major rehabilitation since it entered service in 1972. Andritz's works are expected to increase the installed capacity of the hydropower plant by about 12%. The two dams will enable Tajikistan to optimize water storage management on the river and meet the growing domestic power demand.