The company contracted to build the Rogun Dam has not agreed to install equipment for the hydropower plant (HPP) and a new contractor is needed. Safety recommendations require guarantees like additional tunnels before closure of the river can occur. The dam is located in a seismic zone on salt layers, so its 1960s design raises questions. Downstream countries doubt claims that the project benefits them, as the reservoir could damage ecology and undermine balance further after the Aral Sea shrank. Uzbekistan's new president strongly objects to construction on transboundary rivers without assessing environmental impacts, and increased glacial melting from climate change within decades may lower river flows contrary to the outdated HPP design.