Asia’s poorest country building incredible £5bn dam that will be world’s tallest

This small country is building the world’s tallest dam as it aims to improve the energy supply in the specific region. The Rogun Dam is being built in , one of the poorest countries in Asia and the poorest in . The International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD) puts the country’s poverty down to “uneven implementation of structural reforms, weak governance, widespread unemployment, seasonal power shortages and a heavy external debt burden.” Yet just a two-hour flight away is the oil-rich country of Kazakhstan, which has a GDP of £203 million and an economy that keeps growing.

In hopes of tackling some of the issues in Tajikistan, the mega-project that involves a 1,100-tall dam will double the country’s energy output. However, carrying out this project for a country as small as Tajikistan, with a weak economy, the construction plan is bound to face a number of difficulties. Tajikistan’s post-Sovient era disputes and financial obstacles are just some of the reasons why it’s been such a struggle to get this dam completed, which is “the largest and most ambitious” project in the country’s energy strategy, reports .

The Rogun Dam is being built along one of the country’s main rivers, the Vakhsh. The river already has eight dams connected to it. Yet 60% of Tajikistan’s electricity is provided by the Nurek Dam, which is at the northern end of the river.

That, however, only works in the summer months, when the water levels reach a height that allows them to power the dams.

Unfortunately during the colder months, the production of falls significantly and as a result, a staggering 70% of the population are faced with power shortages, which is why the this new dam is significant.

Rogun Dam will generate extra energy during the summer months, which the country plans to sell in order to fund things such as gas and coal fire or use to exchange with neighbouring countries for gas in the winter.

The dam already has six turbines that are generating electricity and as a result of its completetion. The government says that 10 million people will have access to “affordable, reliable energy”.

The water capacity of the reservoir will be equivalent to over five million Olympic swimming pools.

But before the country gets to completing it, over 50,000 people will need to be resettled and Tajikstan is still in need of £4.9 billion to get the job, which is more than half of the country’s GDP, according to the report.

The plan has been in the works for decades. It was initially funded by the Soviet Union but hit a block before the disintegration of the union in the early 1990s. The country has sought funds elsewhere, including the World Bank, which refused to provide aid for reasons including concerns about potential tensions between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

So how did the country manage to fund it? The government imposed citizens to buy bonds for the dam in the 2010s and in 2017, the country issued its first ever eurobond for $500 million (£634 million).

In 2024, the World Bank also changed direction and invested $3 billion (£2.3 billion) which has allowed the country to continue pushing with the project.