Business

Power purchase: Pakistan to sign accord with Tajikistan this month

Will receive 1,000 megawatts of clean energy at 9.35 cents per unit.

Zafar Bhutta April 13, 2015

The two countries are working on different projects including power supply, transit trade and a transit route for oil supply through Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:

In a major breakthrough, Pakistan is set to sign a power purchase agreement with Tajikistan in Istanbul, Turkey on April 24, which will bring surplus electricity from Central Asia to South Asia.

Under the project, known as Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade (Casa-1000), Pakistan will be provided 1,000 megawatts of clean energy at 9.35 cents per unit including all charges.

Initial agreement on hydroelectric power supply was signed by Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Turkey in December last year.

“We have finalised all aspects of the power purchase agreement, which will be signed in Istanbul on April 24,” a senior government official said.

Tajikistan appears to be a strategic partner of Pakistan, especially in energy supplies, which will connect Pakistan with the Central Asian region. The two countries are working on different projects including power supply, transit trade and a transit route for oil supply through Pakistan.

Although the proposal was coined long ago, the current government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which had promised to voters in its election campaign that it would overcome power shortages swiftly, stepped up work to push ahead with the project.

Casa-1000 is scheduled for completion by 2018 under the umbrella of the World Bank. Tajikistan’s share in electricity export will be 70% while Kyrgyzstan will contribute 30% of supplies.

Afghanistan will consume 300MW of exported electricity while Pakistan will get 1,000MW. The project is expected to give a boost to energy trade in the region, leading to sustainable development.

In addition to Casa-1000, Pakistan and Tajikistan are set to study prospects of supplying another 1,000MW by laying a transmission line to Chitral in northern areas in an effort to put to use surplus energy and help Islamabad mitigate its energy crisis.

“We have the capacity to export an additional 1,000MW through the Chitral route that will help our brotherly country overcome the energy crisis,” a Tajik embassy official said.

Tajikistan is the world’s third largest producer of hydroelectric power after the US and Russia. Hydroelectric power generation accounts for 76% of the total energy production in the country.

A proposal for oil transport to Tajikistan via Pakistan is also under consideration. The government has welcomed Tajikistan’s plan for crude oil import from Kuwait and its processing in Pakistan into refined products.

Tajikistan is a landlocked country and is interested in importing crude oil from Kuwait via the Karachi Port. First, the imported oil will be processed in Pakistan and then refined products will be sent to Tajikistan. The Central Asian state has sought help from the Pakistan government to press on with this plan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2015.

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COMMENTS (8)

faizan | 9 years ago | Reply stabilizing afghanistan is the utmost need of pakistan! we see our strategic interests in central asia and for that dream to realize we have to make sure afghanstan is stable

Samir | 9 years ago | Reply @confused Bro these Indians always have to put their two cents in every news/discussion of Pakistani projects without knowing any history. All they do is come on Pakistani sites and brag about how India is "leaping economically"...meanwhile the story is something different and we all know.

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confused | 9 years ago | Reply @objective observer: Looks like you have no idea of the facts and fiction. Afghans have been at war in last few decades - either among themselves or with other countries. Pakistan merely picked sides in order to stabilized long shared boundary which is impossible to man. And Afghanistan is export corridor for us? Thats amazing, genius.

objective observer | 9 years ago | Reply Looks like Afghanistan is a energy lifeline and an export corridor for Pakistani trade. Seems like a policy of continued instability there is counterproductive. If Pakistan had adopted these policies 13 years ago. It wouldn't currently be in an energy crisis and its exports would be booming into new markets and both countries would be becoming business hubs interconnecting Asia and connecting it to the rest of the world. Instead it decides to try to project power with big bearded mullahs with guns. All the while allowing itself to be inflicted with the blow back. In the name of national security while India continues to progress economically leaps and bounds.

Val | 9 years ago | Reply I can't see the total length of the line, but seems not very much effective. Bringing electricity from Kyrgyzstan and from the north part of Tajikistan, looks like 1000 km of direct line. I know the infrastructure of Tajikistan, such building will take 10 years, if Chinese are not involved (as in other big projects of Tajikistan). Who calculated the price ? I expect it double, due to the above thoughts also. It looks like a project for bureaucrats, that will talk about 3-4 years, making simposiums, press conferences, congresses, etc. Poor people in Afghanistan and Pakistan will dream 3-4 months and will forget about that.

asim | 9 years ago | Reply This is fraud and wastage of money; Domestic hydel power can be generated RS 2 per unit; A coal plant of 1000 MW can start up power production in one year and simple turbine expansion at Tarbela can add 2000 MW. No need for this type of expensive agreements

fk | 9 years ago | Reply 9.35 cents a unit means almost rs 9.50 per unit. Now provision cost and taxes will add up on this... are the poor people looking at rs 20/unit? And is the power thievery contained? Forcasting a failure of this project.

Sohail | 9 years ago | Reply

750 kilometer High Voltage DC line from Sangtuda to Kabul (Afghanistan) to Peshawar (Pakistan)

The above is from the project site. This project will never work because Afghanistan is a war torn country and you can never guarantee the security of the line that passes through there.

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