The government of Kyrgyzstan has signed an agreement with a Chinese consortium to build four hydroelectric power plants with an investment value of between $2.4bn and $3bn.

The deal concerns the Kazarman hydropower cascade, a project that has been under discussion since 2011, the Asia-Plus news site reports.

Kyrgyz prime minister Akylbek Japarov said the investment was the largest in the country’s history.

The Chinese companies involved are PowerChina Northwest Engineering, Green Gold Energy and China Railways 20th Bureau.

The plan is to build four dams on the river Naryn near the village of Kazarman in the mountainous Jalal-Abad region in the centre of the country. These are expected to be complete by 2030, and will have an installed capacity of 1,160MW.

The deal was concluded on the sidelines of the seventh International Economic Forum Issyk-Kul 2023 that took place yesterday.