Monday, December 06, 2010 - Tajikistan is claiming the Uzbek state gas company UzTransGaz has threatened to halt gas deliveries to Tajikistan over unpaid debts within the first part of December.
“The debt for Uzbek gas stands at $1.6 million and grows day after day due to debts of small consumers,” the Interfax news agency on Sunday quoted a source at the state-owned TajikTransGaz company as saying.
Large customers like the TajikCement plant and the Talco aluminum company are able to meet their debts and sometimes even pay in advance. But smaller customers have not been paying their bills, the source said.
“UzTransGaz sent us an official notification which said that the gas delivery might be halted within the first ten days of December if we did not start paying debts.”
In November, TajikCement had to pay $2 million to the Uzbek gas company to cover some of the debts incurred by TajikTransGaz. The payment meant that UzTransGaz would continue to power TajikCement’s four furnaces, which are necessary to provide the cement for Tajikistan’s ongoing construction projects.
The Tajik gas firm in 2008 took out a loan from the country’s largest bank, Orienbank, to cover its debts but is still having difficulty meeting its financial requirements.
“We are still repaying that loan and are unable to make new borrowings on the same terms because Orienbank loan rates are rather high,” the source said.
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