The groundbreaking ceremony of the Central Asia-South Asia-1000 (CASA-1000) over $1 billion power project took place in Tajikistan on Thursday, on May 12, 2016. It was truly heartening to see Pakistan’s premier Mian Nawaz Sharif, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov jointly launch the project at an impressive ceremony, organized to mark the formal launch of the project, near Dushanbe.
The CASA-1000, it is said, is a flagship project, and the first of its kind that will link Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through power grid. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif said that the CASA-1000 was an important joint venture project in the region connecting Central Asia, Afghanistan and South Asia through electricity grid. Upon completion of the project, Pakistan and Afghanistan would obtain 1,000 MW and 300 MW of electricity, respectively, in summer from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, from hydel resources. The CASA-1000 project is expected to bring a number of economic and environmental benefits, help reduce 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 each other and open new avenues for mutually beneficial economic collaboration.
Power shortage is a grave problem confronting Pakistan – and has been for decades. The problem, in fact, continues to grow by the day and also continues to seriously retard 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 summers. Pakistan urgently needs to come out of its power crisis if it desires to attain its developmental goals successfully and alleviate the sufferings of its people. Central Asia-South Asia-1000 (CASA-1000) project launched near Dushanbe, Tajikistan on May 12, 2016 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, CASA-1000 should form a basis for carving out and implementing similar projects or projects of greater magnitude to overcome the debilitating power shortage in the country as quickly as possible.
M FAZAL ELAHI
ISLAMABAD
