Seismic risk affecting the Rogun dam in Tajikistan
30.9.2013
Question for written answer E-011102-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Oreste Rossi (PPE)
The planned dam in Rogun, in the Republic of Tajikistan — which, once completed, will be the tallest in the world, standing at 335 metres — was designed by the Soviet Union in 1960. Work began in 1976 and continued until 1991, the year the USSR collapsed. Since 2010, the Tajik Government has been trying to restart the project with international cooperation.
Now, those involved in the project are awaiting the World Bank’s report on the project’s feasibility, but it is known that a seismotectonic fracture has been observed in the area on which the future massive dam will stand, along with shifting and a large layer of rock salt, up to 100 metres thick, which is subject to erosion.
Experts predict that if there is an earthquake or the structure subsides, a huge volume of water will flood out at a speed of 130 metres per second (468 km/hour) towards the Nurek hydroelectric power plant. The Nurek dam would be completely destroyed and Nurek itself would be submerged by 280 metres of water, travelling at 86 metres/second. In the same way, all the other power plants and aqueducts along the River Vakhsh would be destroyed and the towns of Sarband, Qurghonteppa and almost all of Rumi would be flooded. These towns would be the first to be affected by the water flow, which, continuing along its path of destruction, would end up flooding dozens of other towns and villages in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Through the Europeaid initiative, the European Union is directly involved in many regional cooperation projects, including the Regional Strategy Paper for Assistance to Central Asia for the period 2007-2013), which includes as one of its actions the EU-Central Asia Environment and Water Initiative.
1 Does the Commission plan to look into and report on the European institutions’ financial and political involvement in the project in question?
2. Does it plan to exert international pressure to discourage such a potentially risky project?
OJ C 208, 03/07/2014