DUSHANBE, March 17, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) intends to provide financial assistance to support Tajikistan’s budget, tax administration and social security management in the country.
The ADB will allocate a US$45 million grant for these purposes, Mr. Joji Tokeshi, the ADB Country Director for Tajikistan, told reporters yesterday following a meeting with Tajik Finance Minister Safarali Najmiddinov.
According to him, the ADB plans to allocate a total of US$165 million to Tajikistan this year, including US$120 million under the under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program that will go to supporting enhancement of road transport infrastructure and hydropower.
On the participation of the Asian Development Bank in the Central Asia-South Asia Regional Energy and Trade (CASA-1000) project, Mr. Tokeshi noted that the Asian Development Bank would probably not participate in that project because it intended to maintain neutral position in order to avoid difficulties and disputes in the region.
We will recall that the objective of the CASA-1000 project is to promote electricity exports from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project outcome will be measured by the amount of electricity (in kilo Watt hours) exported through the transmission system to be constructed under the project. The CASA 1000 Project would comprise: a) around 750 km High Voltage Direct Current (DC) transmission system between Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan; b) a DC to Alternate Current (AC) converter station in Kabul to supply Kabul area; c) an AC transmission link between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to supply Kyrgyz electricity to South Asia via Tajikistan; and d) the concomitant institutional and legal framework to enable such electricity trade.
