Pak to import 1000 MW power from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

Islamabad: Pakistan will import 1000MW electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to overcome power shortage and increase trade and economic activities for building confidence among member countries of Central Asia/South Asia Regional Electricity Market (Casarem).

Federal Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Asharaf sated this at the inaugural ceremony of Inter-Governmental Conference of Central Asia/South Asia Regional Electricity Market (Casarem).

Most of the technical, financial, and legal issues pertaining to Casa 1000 have been resolved with mutual consent in a series of meetings held from July 31 to August 2, he added. The minister said that Pakistan is facing severe power shortage due to insufficient investment in power generation and inadvertent postponement of planned hydroelectric projects in the country.

The project for import of 1000 MW from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan via Afghanistan is very vital for bringing confidence and comfort among the regional states along with boosting economic activities, he added.

The Government of Pakistan had expressed strong interest in importing 1000 MW of electricity from Tajikistan through a high-voltage transmission line to be built through Afghanistan, as the first phase of developing electricity trade with Central Asian Region, said Raja Ashraf.

He said there was equally strong Tajik government's interest in exporting electricity via Afghanistan to enable the transit as well as in importing some quantities for its own market.

Kyrgyz Republic stated its interest in adding its surplus power for export as well. All four countries also expressed strong desire to implement the project with the private sector participation.

The major donors are the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank, who are providing valuable assistance to materialise Casa 1000. The project will ensure supply of electricity from both the exporting countries at 5.5 cents per unit.

The ongoing meeting will discuss the modalities about transmission losses along with political and security constraints that Casa will operate within political due to Russian efforts to forestall any US brokered deal to make Central Asian surplus energy available to an energy deficient South Asia with the security concerns in Afghanistan requiring no elaboration.

As a way out the government of Pakistan is planning to establish an independent company that would purchase power and then sell it to the national grid. Besides this, the US and the IFIs are also keen to engage both Pakistan and India in a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline which will provide an alternative to the US opposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline.

This project was conceived by four Central/South Asian states namely Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Pakistan. Pakistan took an initiative and held first meeting for early implementation of the project in May 2006 at Islamabad, the second meeting was held in Dushanbe in October 2006, and the third in Kabul in November 2007.

A governing body was created with the name of Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) comprising representatives from the four countries at the ministerial level. The major objective of the Inter-Governmental Council is to explore the opportunities for benefit of Central/South Asian states with the mandate to develop a regional electricity market for cross border power trade.