DUSHANBE, February 15, 2010, Asia-Plus – The progress of implementation of Tajik-Afghan joint energy progress was among major topics of a meeting of President Emomali Rahmon with visiting Afghan Minister of Energy and Water Resources Muhammad Ismail Khan that took place here on February 15.
Speaking to reporters after a two-hour meeting with President Rahmon, Muhammad Ismail Khan noted that construction of a 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transmission line started on the territory of Afghanistan on February 14.
According to him, the line will supply electrical power from the Sangtuda-1 HPP to the center and the east of Afghanistan.
“The line will be constructed in 10 months and it will provide the supply of 300 MW-hour of Tajik electricity to Afghanistan per year,” the Afghan energy minister said, noting that the government of Afghanistan and international donors allocated 27.7 million dollars for construction of this power transmission line. “Work on the construction of the line in Takhor, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces is progressing,” Ismail Khan said.
We will recall that according to Tajik energy authorities, a total cost of the Tajikistan-Afghanistan 220 kV interconnection project is 55 million U.S. dollars and it is scheduled to be completed in November this year. On the territory of Tajikistan, the line starts in the Sanguda-1 hydroelectric plant and ends on the Tajik-Afghan border.
The 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transition line is 274 kilometers long, and 118 kilometers of it lies on Tajik territory and 156 kilometers on Afghan territory.
In the meantime, touching upon implementation of the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000), which will provide the supply of surplus electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Muhammad Ismail Khan noted that Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water Resources had set up a commission for implementation of that project. The commission members include representatives from all interested sides, including Tajikistan.
“At first, it is planned to supply 1,000 MW-hour of electricity via this power transmission line per year and upon completion of the construction of the Roghun HPP, this index for Tajikistan will increase to 4,000 MW-hour,” the Afghan energy minister stressed.
