DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Uzbek gas transportation company Oztransgaz demanded a 10-day advance payment from Tajik Tojiktransgaz for gas supplies to Tajikistan.
ASIA-Plus informatsionnoe agentstvo reported on Tuesday that Tojiktransgaz Managing Director Saidmahmad Sharofiddinov said that the prepayment demand came after Oztransgaz completely cut off gas supplies to Tajikistan over unpaid debts on Sept. 26. Later the same month Tojiktransgaz completely paid its outstanding $20.5 million debt after securing a loan.
Sharofiddinov told journalists, "In all, we have managed to repay our debt in full and make a $1 million advance payment. The Uzbek side is now demanding that we make an advance payment in line with a contract signed between the two companies last year. On average, Uzbek gas worth $1.2 million or 1.5 million is being supplied to Tajikistan every ten days, and if we do not collect this amount of money now, we may not be supplied with gas in the second 10 days of October."
