Government finally turns to Central Asian energy

The strong outburst of people against long power outages have forced the ministry of water and power to realise that there was acute power shortage and it has finally sought approval from the cabinet for the import of 1000 MW electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan.
Financing the $873m project

An official source said that the ministry has submitted the vetted drafted of the MoU, already signed by the three other countries for the approval of the cabinet. The four neighbouring states had signed an inter-governmental agreement affirming their commitment to develop the Central Asia South Asia (CASA-1000) power transmission project. The total length of the transmission line is 750 km which requires an investment of $873 million. The project is backed by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. He said the cost of 71 km transmission line in Pakistan is estimated at $153 million as the power supplies will be received from 562 km transmission line through Afghanistan which involves a cost of $238 million. The project would take five years to complete after finalisation of formalities. Afghanistan is already importing 600 MW from Central Asian States out of which 300 MW is lying idle due to the capacity constraints. Pakistan has been offered to import the idle capacity which could not be utilised as there is no transmission line link between the tribal areas with Afghanistan.
Project on the cards since 2006

It is important to mention that CASA-1000 for import of up to 1300 MW hydropower from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan is under discussion since 2006. The four governments have signed two memorandum of understanding, first one in Dushanbe on October 28, 2006 and second one in Kabul on November 16, 2007 under the Central Asia South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM). On August 4, 2008, an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) was entered into at Islamabad between the four governments confirming earlier MoUs, and affirming commitment to develop CASA-1000 project and its allied issues like securities land rights. It was also decided that the secretariat for the project will be set up in Kabul for facilitating the implementation of the project and to oversee compliance of the project and project activities. A consultant firm, SNC-Lavalin International of Canada was hired to conduct techno-economic feasibility of the project. It submitted its report in February 2011 with positive conclusions.
Seeking early
implementation

During the visit of the Prime Minister to Dushanbe, Tajikistan in November, 2010 emphasis was laid on early implementation of CASA-1000 project. President of Pakistan during the visit to Dushanbe, Tajikistan in September 2011 declared commitment to the project. On the invitation of the Kyrgyz government a four member Pakistani delegation led by Secretary Water and Power visited Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic to attend a meeting of the Inter Governmental Council (IGC) on September 19-20, 2011 with the objective of implementing the proposed project. The meeting was also attended by Afghanistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and representatives of the World Bank and Islamic Development Bank. The source said a draft MoU was also on the agenda of the meeting for consideration, but Pakistan could not sign the MoU as the draft was received by the Ministry of Water and Power considerably late and was submitted to the Law Division for vetting. The vetted draft’s approval from the cabinet could not be obtained before IGC meeting. The ministers of Afghanistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan signed the MoU but it was initialed on behalf of Pakistan subject to its approval by the government. If approval is given by the federal cabinet it will be conveyed by the Ministry of Water and Power to other countries in writing.