MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Technopromexport, Russia's state builder of energy facilities and electricity exporter, said Thursday it had signed a $32-million contract to modernize a hydroelectric power plant in Afghanistan.
In May, Technopromexport won an open tender announced by Afghanistan's Energy, Water and Power Ministry, in which companies from China, Iran and other countries also participated.
"The main advantage of the company in this tender, which we could not have left unexploited, was knowledge of the facility, which we built, even though more than 28 years have passed since the plant's opening in 1978," General Director Sergei Molozhavy said.
The contract to upgrade the Naglu plant, signed by the Russian company and the Afghan ministry, will be funded from a World Bank loan to Afghanistan's government. Under the contract, Technopromexport will supply, assemble and calibrate equipment for the hydropower plant for 40 months.
Technopromexport built four power plants in Afghanistan and installed more than 1,800 km (1,120 miles) of power transmission lines.
"Bilateral cooperation between Technopromexport and Afghanistan's power engineers mainly involves the restoration and modernization of facilities built with technical assistance from the U.S.S.R., which constitute the main part of the country's power industry," Molozhavy said.
Technopromexport, established in 1955, builds power facilities, including hydraulic, thermal, geothermal, diesel power plants, power transmission lines and sub-plants in 50 countries. The overall capacity of facilities commissioned with the company's assistance is over 85 gigawatts.
