On the morning of May 1, a partial collapse of the dam occurred on the Sardoba reservoir in Syrdarya province. As a result of the flood, damage was caused to settlements and crops in the Sardoba, Akaltyn and Mirzaabad districts, with 4 people dead, buildings, roads, communications damaged, and over 60 thousand people evacuated from 22 villages in three districts.

After the incident, the public started to ask questions why this happened, demanding to hold accountable the companies that were involved in the construction of the reservoir.

It is early to jump into conclusions. The causes of the incident will be established by the investigation. The Tashkent Times, on the basis of open information and data from sources, tried to find out the details of the project.

The construction of the reservoir was commenced in 2010 on the territory of the watercourse of the central network of the South Mirzachul Canal and was completed in 2017. It was reported that the hydraulic structure contained 922 million cubic meters of water, which allowed to efficiently use the fertile lands of Syrdarya and Jizzakh provinces and increase the yield.

During the reservoir work progress familiarization on May 17, 2017, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced plans to organize a new company in the field of hydropower. The next day, the head of state signed a decree on the creation of Uzbekhydroenergo, a joint stock company uniting hydroelectric power stations, hydraulic engineering and other subsidiaries of Uzbekenergo, as well as the Uzsuvenergo association under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

Senator Abdugani Sanginov, who previously had been in charge of Uzsuvenergo, and also served as chairman of TupalangsuvGESkurilish LLC in Saryasi district of Surkhandarya province, became the chairman of the new company.

Uzbekhydroenergo implements a single technical policy in the field of electric energy production at hydroelectric power plants, in charge of ensuring safe and efficient operation of hydraulic structures, as well as centralized process management of hydropower facilities. It is also involved in the development and implementation of hydropower development programs and investment projects for the construction of new and modernization of existing hydropower plants.

Telegram channel Davletovuz drew attention to the fact that a number of projects in the field of hydropower have been and are being implemented by To'palang HPD Holding and its wings (To'palang HPD Platinum, To'palang HPD Water Construction, To'palang HPD Building, To'palang HPD Irrigation Systems, To'palang HPD Steam - Gas, To'palang HPD Service, To'palang HPD Engineering).

According to the findings, To’palang HPD Holding was formed as a result of the reorganization of Tupalang Suv Ombori and Kurilish HPP into Tupalangsuv GESkurilish LLC as per the December 2017 presidential decree. The main types of its activities are construction works in the construction of hydroelectric power stations, the construction of water facilities, dams, waterworks, digging canals and drains, and others.

On April 21, Uzbekhydroenergo press service announced the laying of the first brick in the foundation of a small hydroelectric power station at the Sardoba Reservoir with the participation of To’palang HPD Irrigation Systems. The project cost is estimated at 21.3 million euros, and is planned to commissioned in 2022.

The company’s website also reports that To'palang HPD Holding is carrying out construction work at the Quyichotqol hydroelectric station on the Chatkal river (the project is estimated at US$ 180 million), as well as at the Pskem hydroelectric station at the Pskem river in the Bostanlyk district of Tashkent province (estimated at US$ 810 million) .

To’palang HPD Platinum is also involved in the reconstruction of the main irrigation of Tashsoqi system of canals in Khorezm province (estimated at US$ 29.7 million).

In addition, on July 9, 2019, theTo’palang HPD Building commissioned a cascade of small hydropower plants on the Great Ferghana Canal in Uchkurgan district of Namangan province (estimated at US$ 31 million).

In March 2019, a small hydropower plant was opened at the Tuyabuguz reservoir in the Urta-Chirchik district of the Tashkent province, built by To`palang HPD Irrigation (estimated at US$ 16.3 million).

To’palang HPD Building participated in the construction of Termez Marvaridi resort in Surkhandarya province.

Two out of five members of the Supervisory Board of the Uzsuvloyiha Design Institute are representatives of To’palang HPD Holding. Uzsuvloyiha company was the general designer of a number of projects, including reconstruction of a water-slope and construction of a protective structure to prevent erosion of Kuyganyar hydroelectric complex in Andijan district, reconstruction of the Konimekh-1 pumping station in Navoi province and others.

The legal addresses of Uzbekhydroenergo and To’palang HPD Holding are the same: 22, Navoi Street, Tashkent.

Islom Abdurakhmanov owns a 61.7% stake in the holding - data from the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations.

The director of To’palang HPD Holding is Islom Abduganievich Abdurakhmanov is the son of Abdugani Sanginov.

The Tashkent Times found that, To’palang HPD Water Construction was one of over 10 subcontractors involved in the construction of Sardoba reservoir.

Project cost

The document on the construction of the Sardoba reservoir is not available for the public. The hydraulic structure is still on the balance sheet of Uzbekistan Railways. The Sardoba reservoir project cost as of January 1, 2017 stands at  1 trillion 306 billion 940 million 400 thousand soums (US$ 404.4 million at the Central Bank rate as of January 1, 2017).

The project presentation to the president in May 2017 was attended by the former chairman of Uzbekistan Railways Achilbay Ramatov (now First Deputy Prime Minister), Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Shavkat Khamroev (now Minister of Water Resources) and Chairman of Uzsuvenergo Abdugani Sanginov (now Chairman of Uzbekhydroenergo).

Comments by Uzbekhydroenergo

“We would like to express our official reaction to the misinterpretation, unfounded and biased arguments on the incident that occurred on the Sardoba reservoir, which are being spred in local and foreign media and social networks against the reputation of Uzbekhydroenergo JSC.

Noting that the Sardoba reservoir was built between 2010-2017, the company emphasized that the former Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources was the customer of the facility. The unitary enterprise Uztemiryulkurililishmontazh under the JSC “Uzbekistan Railway acted as the general contractor. Over 10 subcontractors participated in the project, including Uzmakhsuskurilish, Omad Dubl, BOYOVUD, as well as Rezaksoy Suv Qurilish (now To’palang HPD Water Construction), which also performed construction work on its part during the construction process.

The work performed by To’palang HPD Water Construction was duly approved by the relevant commission, the statement said.

“We would like to emphasize that To’palang HPD Holding LLC did not perfom construction work in the part where the accident at the Sardoba Reservoir occurred, and Islom Abdurakhmanov did not work at To’palang HPD Holding and its branches between 2010-2017. In addition, JSC Uzbekhydroenergo was set up by presidential decree No. UP-5044 of May 18, 2017. Thus, it should be noted that JSC Uzbekhydroenergo was not responsible for the construction of the Sardoba reservoir and did not participate in it, the statement added.

As he noted, the operation of the Sardoba reservoir had been overseen out by the State Inspectorate Davsuvhujaliknazorat (State Inspectorate for Monitoring and Supervision of the Technical Condition and Safety of Work of Large and Especially Important Water Management Facilities under the Cabinet of Ministers).

“In view of the foregoing, we declare that the information disseminated on social networks is unfounded and false,” the statement noted.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Water Management provides design, survey and research work, as well as departmental examination of design estimates for the construction, reconstruction, repair and restoration of water facilities.