Electricity supply: Electricity export by 2016

BAKU: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will commence electricity exports to Pakistan and Afghanistan by 2016, Kyrgyz Deputy Premier Omurbek Babanov said. “This project will be an impetus to the development of an export potential of the Central Asian countries and it is of strategic importance for Kyrgyzstan,” Babanov said in a statement according to Kyrgyz media. The four countries have determined their junction points in the power line. The section between the two Central Asian countries will originate from Datka substation in Kyrgyzstan and run to Tajikistan’s Hodjent substation. The electricity will be supplied to Pakistan and Afghanistan after passing through the transforming station. The electricity line is 1,227 kilometers in length, with a 457km-section passing through Kyrgyzstan. The country has sanctioned the Datka substation project, which is expected to finish by 2013. The project worth $953 million is financed by the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th,  2011.