DUSHANBE, October 20, Asia-Plus – An international conference to discuss regional energy conference is expected to be held in Dushanbe on October 26-29, according to the Ministry of Energy (MoE).
A source at a MoE said that participants at the conference will discuss a draft memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
It will be the third meeting of a group for energy cooperation that will be held in Dushanbe. The first two meetings were held in Dushanbe in December 2005 and January 2006.
A two-day energy Central Asia and South Asia electricity trade conference on May 8-9 in Islamabad discussed issues related to laying 1000-kilometer power-transmission line for materializing electricity supplies from Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan: Roghun-Norak-Sangtuda-Kunduz-Kabul-Peshawar. An estimated budget for the implementation of this project is US$540 million.
The conference also agreed that surplus power from Kyrgyz Republic could also be transmitted through this line by suitable interconnections, but the proposal will be finalized after completion of Tajikistan-Pakistan electricity trade talks.
The countries participating in the project had formed a working group, comprising Shabbir Chaudhary, CEO, NTDC (Pakistan), Akram Sulaymonov, Deputy Tajik Minister of Energy, Sirojiddin Saidov, Deputy Chairman of the “Barqi Tojik” (Tajik electric systems) Energy Holding, Engineer Ghulam Rabani, Advisor to Afghanistan”s Ministry of Energy and Water, and Ilias Dadarov, Head of Kyrgyzstan”s National Grid Company, to materialize the project.
The power-transmission line from Tajikistan would help Pakistan in meeting its growing energy requirements. Pakistan”s energy requirements annually rise by eight percent, and the Pakistani side is ready to annually import some 4 billion kWh of electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
A number of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have expressed readiness to sponsor the project, according to the source.
Representatives from Russian, Iranian and US energy companies, including the AES Corporation of Arlington, Virginia, are also expected to attend the upcoming meeting in Dushanbe. The Tajik Energy Ministry has elected selected the AES Corporation to perform an analysis funded the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). USTDA awarded an $800,000 grant to the Ministry of Energy of Tajikistan. An agreement conferring the grant was signed on June 3 2006 on the sidelines of Electricity Beyond Borders Forum in Istanbul. The grant will fund early investment analysis in determining the viability of plans to develop electric power transmission and generation in Central Asia. Specifically, the project will evaluate options for Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to export their excess electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
