Rogun Dam

The Roghun Dam (Russian: Рогунская ГЭС; Tajik: Нерӯгоҳи барқи обии Роғун) is an embankment dam under construction on the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan. The dam is situated 110 km from Dushanbe. It is one of the planned hydroelectric power plants of Vakhsh Cascade. Construction of the dam began in the Soviet era, in 1976, but was abandoned in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over three decades only preliminary construction had been carried out on the dam. Due to its controversial state, construction was suspended in August 2012 pending World Bank reports. The project was restarted by the Tajik government in 2016. The power plant's first unit was commissioned in November 2018 and second in September 2019, both on lower hydraulic head. Since the time both were part of the USSR, the dam has been steadily opposed by the government of the neighbouring Uzbekistan, which fears it will negatively impact its lucrative cotton crops. The dispute over the project has contributed significantly to bitter relations between the two former Soviet republics.