Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to build hydro power station, despite Uzbekistan?s objection: expert

"Despite Uzbekistan's sharp and decisive position on water issue, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will seek to build the HPS in their territories," Toraliyeva said. "Both sides are experiencing too difficult energy crisis which must be halted." "The Kazakh prime minister visited Tashkent last week. Moreover, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev talked over telephone with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. Both countries have a common problem - lack of water whose source is the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers. The other two countries - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan from where these rivers run lack electricity. It is necessary for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to construct additional HPS to eliminate lack of electricity, but Uzbekistan objects to this project, as it I afraid of decreasing water flow as a result of construction. "Energy crisis has led the countries to consequences in economy and humanitarian field, which in turn can destabilize a political situation," Toraliyeva said. At present it is necessary to take steps to establish a dialogue on a water issue with Islam Karimov and create conditions for negotiations and compromises, the expert said. However, the Uzbek and Kyrgyz leaders do not have the unified position on the water issue, despite their negotiations, the expert believes. Kazakhstan holds a softer position on the water issue than Uzbekistan, Toraliyeva said. "Moreover, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have a lot of issue which they solve bilaterally without Uzbekistan's participation," Toraliyeva said; Kazinform cites Trend News. See en.trend.az for full version.