China will build a US$300 million hydroelectric power plant in neighbouring Tajikistan to help alleviate frequent energy shortages in the Central Asian nation, Tajik Energy Minister Sherali Gul said on Wednesday. The agreement was reached during talks between Chinese leader Hu Jintao and Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon, he said. Hu is in Tajikistan for the Thursday summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Gul said the planned power plant, Nurobad-2, would have capacity of between 160 and 200 megawatts. "We estimate the required investment at US$200 million to US$300 million at the moment," Gul told reporters. He said China would finance the construction itself. Millions of Tajiks struggled to survive without heating and electricity in their homes last winter as temperatures plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) across the mountainous nation north of Afghanistan. The country also had to reduce power supply to the Tajik Aluminium Company, although the output cut was minor. (Reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov)