Caravanserai
Economy

New power line seen as electricity boon to region

The World Bank

CASA-1000 will enable Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to export surplus energy to neighbouring markets in South Asia. Tajikistan could potentially export about 2,700GWh of hydro-power and generate an estimated $140 million of annual export revenues. [World Bank]

CASA-1000 will enable Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to export surplus energy to neighbouring markets in South Asia. Tajikistan could potentially export about 2,700GWh of hydro-power and generate an estimated $140 million of annual export revenues. [World Bank]

WASHINGTON, DC -- The World Bank has secured more funding for the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000), which aims at facilitating energy trade along the transmission line in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Last month the World Bank approved $24 million in grant financing from the International Development Association, while an additional $2 million is coming from the CASA-1000 Multi-Donor Trust Fund, with funding by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and US Agency for International Development.

The project was approved in March 2014 and has entered its construction phase.

Completion of the line, expected in 2020, will mean the delivery of 1,300MW of Kyrgyz and Tajik surplus electricity: 300MW to Afghanistan and 1,000MW to Pakistan.

In addition to better local infrastructure and electricity supply, other downstream effects are also expected. CASA-1000 is envisaged as a modern and efficient electricity transmission system that will help transform the region and promote peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Construction will also provide hundreds of Afghan jobs, and after its completion, Afghanistan is expected to earn $40 million yearly in transit fees, TOLOnews reported in 2018.

Better infrastructure

The Tajik portion of the transmission line extends from Sughd Province in the north to Khatlon Province in the south.

"Empowering local communities, the project helps residents identify the most pressing infrastructure bottlenecks, while providing them with the support needed to address them," said Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank country manager for Tajikistan.

"Supporting communities in addressing the most urgent factors of non-monetary poverty -- such as access to water, sanitation, electricity, and/or heating -- has proven to be global best practice in ensuring that important capital projects generate universal benefits and, most importantly, improve the well-being of directly affected households."

The CASA-1000 project will invest in improving local infrastructure and public services by financing the rehabilitation and upgrade of village-level electricity infrastructure and equipment to increase the reliability and quality of electricity services.

In addition, it will provide sub-grants to villages to finance small-scale socioeconomic infrastructure and facilities that are selected by the communities themselves.

In total, more than 130,000 Tajiks in 60 villages and 24 jamoats in Sughd and Khatlon provinces and in the Districts of Republican Subordination will benefit directly from the project.

Some 73,000 local residents of Isfara District in Sughd will also benefit from socio-economic investments and facilities for the construction of the Isfara-1 electricity substation and distribution network.

[The World Bank Group authorises the use of this material subject to the terms and conditions on its website, http://www.worldbank.org/terms.]

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