Pakistan inks $1b deal to import power

Dubai: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on Thursday signed a deal estimated at $1 billion (Dh3.7 billion) to construct a dedicated cross-border electricity transmission line.

The tetra partners and donors have been pursuing the development of electricity trade through the establishment of a Central Asia-South Asia Regional Electricity Market (Casarem) from 2008.

Under the Central Asia, South Asia (Casa-1000) electricity trade, the construction of the link is essentially aimed at supplying 1,300 megawatts of surplus hydropower available during the summer months from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan will import 1000MW of surplus electricity while Afghanistan will import 300 MW.

Dire need

"The project is very important for Pakistan and it is in dire need of electricity for the future, and the government is taking all possible measures to complete the project," Pakistan's Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar told Gulf News.

The total length of the transmission line is around 1,000 kilometres and the project is planned to be on a public-private partnership basis with the support of the World Bank, USAID, Islamic Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Fin-ance Corporation and the Arab Bank.

Delegations from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan attended the two-day Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) meeting which ended on Thursday.

Equal partnership

"The transmission lines will start from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and pass through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The donors are strongly backing the project. The four states will have equal partnership and responsibility," Qamar said.

The contract is for 30 years and the project is expected to be commissioned in 2016.

"We have opened an office in Almaty and the hiring of contractors will start soon," he said.

No single project is enough to stop "load shedding." New projects in the pipeline are "expected to minimise the existing gap between demand and supply. The government is working to overcome power shortages and soon will be in a position where there will be no unscheduled load-shedding in the country," he said.

After remaining dormant for three years, the Casa-1000 project was revitalised last year when Afghanistan, the Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding at the IGC meeting at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on September 20, 2011. The World Bank representative said the bank is providing financial, technical assistance and proposes to start construction by February 2014.

Next steps are planned to be coordinated with the World Bank office in Afghanistan and hiring of the country advisers are expected to be completed by June 30.

"We are assuring complete security for the project and important projects started in Afghanistan are being provided complete security," Mohammad Esmail Khan, Afghanistan's Minister of Energy and Water, said.