75 years ago – on June 11, 1951, the Soviet government decided to build the Kairakkum hydroelectric power station on the Syrdarya River, which was to become the largest hydroelectric power station in Central Asia with an installed capacity of 126 thousand kW.
In the summer of 1951, a column of trucks and buses drove up to the village of Kop-Tuluk, located at the edge of the Kairak-Kum desert, and young people got out of them. And soon the residents of the village learned that soon everything in their lives would change: a large construction project would begin; Having blocked the Syr Darya, the builders will erect a hydroelectric power station – the most powerful hydroelectric power station in Central Asia!
The business began with the construction of a residential town. Columns of trucks carried parts of prefabricated houses, cement, fittings, and bricks for construction.
The flow of everything that was needed for the construction of the hydroelectric power station rushed to the left bank of the Syr Darya from Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk, Sverdlovsk, Volgograd, Tashkent, and from many cities of the Soviet Union. Every day they arrived at the construction site: graders, excavators, bulldozers, camping power plants, cranes.
For the first time in the history of hydropower in Tajikistan, the Kairakkum hydroelectric station was equipped with automatic control and remote control. Electricity put into operation the pumping stations of the Samgar, Khoja-Bakirgan and Dalverzin massifs, the deserts of the Hungry Steppe. These pumping stations made it possible to irrigate 350 thousand hectares of land.
In 1957, the Kairakkum hydroelectric power station was given the name “Friendship of Peoples,” which became a symbol of the participation in its construction of representatives of 37 nationalities from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and other republics.
Chronology of the construction of the Kairakkum hydroelectric power station “Friendship of Peoples”
1951
June 11 – a decision was made to build the Kairakkum hydroelectric power station
July – The first group of workers arrived at the construction site.
October – the foundation of the first residential building in the hydrobuilders’ village was laid
1952
May – the construction of cofferdams enclosing the pit of the hydroelectric power station began in the riverbed of the Syr Darya, work was carried out to fencing the pits, and the first sheet piles were driven in.
1953
February – hydraulic reclamation of the earthen dam on the right bank began
September – the first cubic meters of concrete were laid in the foundation pit of the hydroelectric power station.
1954
October – laying of the foundation for the hydroelectric power station building took place
1956
April 7 – the Syrdarya River bed was blocked for 7 hours.
July 8 – filling of the reservoir began. By August 17, it had accumulated 750 million cubic meters. m of water. Its level is raised by 9.8 m.
August – installation of the first hydraulic unit began
December – hydraulic units No. 1 and No. 2 produced industrial current.
1957
From September 10 to September 14, hydraulic units No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 came into operation.
… During the years of construction of the hydroelectric power station, photographs dedicated to the construction of the Kairakkum hydroelectric power station were published in the union and local press; Today we will show you these photographs that capture history.
