The project should form a basis for implementing similar projects to overcome the debilitating power shortage
ISLAMABAD: The groundbreaking ceremony of the Central Asia-South Asia-1000 (CASA-1000) project worth over $1 billion took place in Tajikistan on May 12. It was truly heartening to see Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov jointly launch the project at an impressive ceremony, organised to mark the formal launch of the project, near Dushanbe.
The CASA-1000 is a flagship project, the first of its kind, which will link Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through a power grid. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the Pakistani prime minister said that the CASA-1000 was an important joint venture project in the region connecting Central Asia, Afghanistan and South Asia through an electricity grid. Upon completion of the project, Pakistan and Afghanistan would obtain 1,000 megawatts and 300 megawatts of electricity, respectively, in the summer from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, from hydel resources. The project is expected to bring a number of economic and environmental benefits, help reduce the energy deficit, improve trade and business links, besides promoting friendship among the partner countries. It wouldn’t be inappropriate to say that the project would bring the cooperating countries closer to one another and open new avenues for mutually beneficial economic collaboration.
Power shortage is a grave problem confronting Pakistan and has been in existence for many years now. The problem, in fact, continues to grow by the day and has seriously retarded the country’s economic growth. Needless to say, it also has a terrible impact on the people of this country who have to face long hours of power outages, particularly during the summer. Pakistan urgently needs to come out of its power crisis if it desires to attain its developmental goals successfully and alleviate the suffering of its people.
The CASA-1000 project is a ray of hope for Pakistan to partially get out of its long-drawn power crisis. This, however, should not encourage complacency among those managing the power issue in the government. In fact, this project should form a basis for carving out and implementing similar projects or projects of even greater magnitude to overcome the debilitating power shortage in the country as quickly as possible.
M Fazal Elahi
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2016.
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