Aleksandre Khetaguri Believes Assignment of KhramHES 1 and KhramHES 2 to InterRao Was Good Commercial Decision

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia believes that it was commercial decision for the country to assign the Hydro Electro Stations KhramHES 1 and KhramHES 2 to Russian company InterRao.

Minister told the journalists today at the briefing that the new agreement, which was signed on April 1, will be kind of encouragement for the Russian Company to put those HESes in motion at full speed, to work on their rehabilitation, to earn more energy and to bring more profit for the state budget.

“According to the agreement signed in 2000 with the InterRao, the Russian company had right to rule the HESes till 2025 which is same as assigning the Hydro Electro Stations as a private property to them. At this moment, it is more profitable for us InterRao to be the owner of those Stations rather than manager. The new agreement envisaged this condition,” said Khetaguri.

According to the memorandum signed on April 1, Russian Company InterRao will transfer 104 Million USD to the Georgian budget before November 2011 for the KhramHES 1 and KhramHES 2.

Besides that, another agreement was signed with the Company according to which new three hydro electro stations shall be constructed on the River Khrami and they will work out 90-100 mega watt energy in total. InterRao will invest 193 Million USD for the construction of the HESes. According to the current action plan, the construction will finish before the end of 2015.

The Minister stated that new hydro electro stations will significantly balance supply of electricity both in the western and eastern Georgia. In addition, it will have positive impact on the water supply too. He said it is also important that hundreds local people will be employed on the construction of the hydro electro stations.

Interpresnews