World Bank approved 650 million dollars in grants for the Rogun dam in Tajikistan, and the plant capacity target now stands at 3,780 megawatts

World Bank money for the Rogun dam reaches 650 million dollars

The World Bank has now committed 650 million dollars in grant money to Tajikistan giant Rogun hydropower dam, a MAOWCE calculated total of 2 separate grants its Board of Executive Directors approved on 2 different dates, 350 million dollars in December 2024 and 300 million dollars in June 2026. Neither World Bank press release states that combined figure on its own, it is this sum of the 2 grants each release states separately. The Bank own December 2024 announcement gives the plant a projected installed capacity of 3,780 megawatts, enough, the Bank says, to give about 10 million people in Tajikistan better access to electricity, with about 70% of the electricity generated meant for export to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The full plant is expected to cost 6.29 billion dollars to complete, and the World Bank own December 2024 release says it helped line up 2.97 billion dollars more in grants and concessional funds from other development partners. 2 of those partners have since committed money of their own, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development signed a 100 million dollar loan in February 2026 and Italy own Cassa Depositi e Prestiti committed 150 million dollars in July 2026, while a combined 1 billion dollars from the European Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank remains undecided. The Tajik finance minister has cited 1.5 billion dollars in total international commitments toward the project.

The dam still needs far more money than it has

Even with that help, S and P Global Ratings estimated in August 2026 that Tajikistan still needs about 5.8 billion dollars more to finish the dam by a 2035 target completion date. The government itself is paying much of the gap directly, spending 400 million dollars of its own revenue on the project in the first half of 2026, with 300 million dollars more planned for the second half. Construction is visibly moving, the Italian contractor WeBuild began work in August 2026 on a 2.3 billion dollar package of structures called Lot 2 and had raised the dam to 1,155 meters above sea level, on the way to a full height target of 1,300 meters.

A financing pause the World Bank says never happened

The World Bank own live procurement system shows a bidding process for the dam remaining structures still moving forward too, a prequalification deadline pushed twice, from January 26 2026 to April 3 2026, before a construction bid was expected to open around May 2026, a detail visible only by reading the Bank own procurement notice directly rather than any summary of it. The project has not escaped controversy. Reports in the Russian press and a note from S and P Global Ratings described the World Bank as having paused its financing in 2025 over civil society objections and doubts about Tajikistan ability to repay the debt, before conditions for disbursing the money were completed on December 22 2025.

There was no temporary suspension or freeze of the Bank's participation in the project.

World Bank Group, Tajikistan country office, in an on the record statement to Eurasianet. Source 4.

An environmental critic sees the outcome differently. Eugene Simonov, a coordinator at Rivers without Boundaries, an environmental group opposed to the project, argues the financing conditions attached to the newest round of money were weakened rather than strengthened.

Once they release the second tranche, they will have no real strings to pull to control the borrower.

Eugene Simonov, coordinator, Rivers without Boundaries, an environmental group opposed to the project. Source 4.

The reservoir behind the finished dam is expected to displace 50,000 residents once it is complete.