Asia power project to link four countries
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Raphael Minder, FT Syndication Service
DUSHANBE (Tajikistan): Four countries are expected to give the green light this month to a project that would lead to the first significant electricity transfer from central Asia and help resolve seasonal power shortages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
If approved, the main beneficiary is set to be Pakistan, whose fast-growing economy is being reined in by a power generation deficit of about 1,500 megawatts.
The four-country plan foresees the building of about 1,100 kilometres of new transmission lines from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
Representatives from the four countries are due to meet in Kabul on November 16 to sign a preliminary agreement. The governments are expected to contribute some financing, but the bulk of the money will come from multilateral organisations.
Raghuveer Sharma, who leads the World Bank's energy programme for central Asia, forecast that construction could start in "a year to 15 months" and be completed between 2010 and 2012. In an initial phase, adding the lines would cost about $500m (£240m, €345m) and would serve to transfer about 1,000MW of additional electricity to Pakistan. But he said that eventually the flow could be quadrupled if as much as $5.0bn of mooted hydroelectric projects were given the go-ahead.
Central Asia uses all of its electricity in the winter and is left with a power surplus in summer, which could be exported as the timing coincides with peak demand in hotter regions further south.
Officials said the project should be seen as a big step towards greater economic integration in the region. The new transmission network would mark a significant departure from inefficient Soviet-era energy allocation arrangements in central Asia that have saddled the region with a power grid controlled out of Uzbekistan.
Sean O'Sullivan, a senior infrastructure official at the Asian Development Bank, said: "This is really a big opportunity to make much better use of everybody's resources and move towards a new central and south Asian electricity market."
The main transmission route will serve Pakistan directly because of the high cost of building a connecting branch to Afghanistan, the transit country. But to avoid political tensions and help electricity-starved Afghanistan, the project fore sees the construction of a smaller, independent set of transmission lines between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Separately, Afghanistan is working on adding 300MW of power from a new transmission route from Uzbekistan. Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, finance minister, said the transmission lines should be completed by next summer.
DUSHANBE (Tajikistan): Four countries are expected to give the green light this month to a project that would lead to the first significant electricity transfer from central Asia and help resolve seasonal power shortages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
If approved, the main beneficiary is set to be Pakistan, whose fast-growing economy is being reined in by a power generation deficit of about 1,500 megawatts.
The four-country plan foresees the building of about 1,100 kilometres of new transmission lines from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
Representatives from the four countries are due to meet in Kabul on November 16 to sign a preliminary agreement. The governments are expected to contribute some financing, but the bulk of the money will come from multilateral organisations.
Raghuveer Sharma, who leads the World Bank's energy programme for central Asia, forecast that construction could start in "a year to 15 months" and be completed between 2010 and 2012. In an initial phase, adding the lines would cost about $500m (£240m, €345m) and would serve to transfer about 1,000MW of additional electricity to Pakistan. But he said that eventually the flow could be quadrupled if as much as $5.0bn of mooted hydroelectric projects were given the go-ahead.
Central Asia uses all of its electricity in the winter and is left with a power surplus in summer, which could be exported as the timing coincides with peak demand in hotter regions further south.
Officials said the project should be seen as a big step towards greater economic integration in the region. The new transmission network would mark a significant departure from inefficient Soviet-era energy allocation arrangements in central Asia that have saddled the region with a power grid controlled out of Uzbekistan.
Sean O'Sullivan, a senior infrastructure official at the Asian Development Bank, said: "This is really a big opportunity to make much better use of everybody's resources and move towards a new central and south Asian electricity market."
The main transmission route will serve Pakistan directly because of the high cost of building a connecting branch to Afghanistan, the transit country. But to avoid political tensions and help electricity-starved Afghanistan, the project fore sees the construction of a smaller, independent set of transmission lines between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Separately, Afghanistan is working on adding 300MW of power from a new transmission route from Uzbekistan. Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, finance minister, said the transmission lines should be completed by next summer.