Coal Offers Alternative Energy Source

As winter approaches and Tajikistan faces rising energy costs, NBCentralAsia energy experts say the government must look more closely at a fuel it can produce itself – coal.



Since Uzbekistan raised the export price of its natural gas, and has refused to allow the Tajiks to use its power lines to import extra electricity from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan faces a worse-than-usual energy crisis over the winter months.



NBCentralAsia’s energy experts are thus underlining the importance of coal, which is one of the cheapest fuels in Tajikistan, sold at between 10 and 33 dollars a ton depending on its quality.



The country has 18 working mines, many of them open-cast, but energy ministry figures suggest production is fairly low. Output so far in 2006 stands at 71,000 tons, which is expected to top 100,000 tons by year end. By way of comparison, in the Soviet Union of the late Eighties, more than 600,000 tons a year was being mined at just one Tajik deposit, at Shurab in the northern Isfara district, The same mine now produces just 20,000 tons annually.



During the Soviet era, many Tajik factories ran on coal, but increased natural gas extraction in Uzbekistan led to these enterprises shifting to gas. But now that the Uzbeks are hiking up their prices, Tajikistan could go back to the old ways and use coal again.



Jura Babaev, an advisor to the head of Barki Tojik, the state electricity provider, told NBCentralAsia that existing mines need to be refurbished and upgraded if the coal industry is to be revived, and this will require new investment and the creation of joint ventures with foreign coal firms.



As a source in the ministry of industry told NBCentralAsia, not all enterprises can switch over to coal. Tajikazot, for instance, uses natural gas to produce mineral fertilisers, and there is no substitute.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)