DUSHANBE, Tajikistan A Tajik official said that Russian aluminum giant OAO Rusal would not be allowed to buy the ex-Soviet country's colossal aluminum plant and accused the company of reneging on its investment commitments.
"Rusal has not invested anything in retrofitting the Tajik Aluminum Plant," Sherali Gulov, head of the State Property Committee, told journalists Thursday. "This company will never buy the plant."
In October 2004, Rusal pledged to invest US$150 million (€120 million) in retrofitting Central Asia's largest aluminum plant and US$600 million (€480 million) in building a new plant in the country's south.
Rusal's representative in Tajikistan, Alexander Kasatkin, said Friday that the company has "consecutively" followed its investment plans.
He said the delay in construction has been caused by energy shortages and Rusal is focused on completion of the Rogun hydropower plant.
Rusal agreed to invest US$1 billion (€800 million) in what would be Central Asia's largest hydropower plant, but construction has not started because of a dispute over the dam design.
The Tajik Aluminum Plant produces about 380,000 tons of aluminum annually, which constitutes two-thirds of Tajikistan's exports.
The impoverished Central Asian state, which has enormous hydropower potential and vast deposits of alumina, is still overcoming the consequences of the devastating 1992-97 civil war.
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