CASA 1000: Electricity from Central Asia will be supplied to the south

Work started on 11 May in Tajikistan on the implementation of the CASA 1000 project, which entails the construction of an electricity transmission line running from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project is being implemented by state-controlled companies from the four countries and is intended to enable the export of as much as 5 TWh annually from the large hydroelectric power plants in Central Asia which were built in the Soviet era (Nurek in Tajikistan and Toktogul in Kyrgyzstan) to the energy-thirsty Pakistani market (Afghanistan has announced that it does not intend to import electricity for the time being). CASA 1000 is planned to be put into operation in 2018, and electricity will be exported in the summer period, when both the demand for electricity in Pakistan and its production levels in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are at their highest. The project, which will cost US$997 million, will be financed from grants and preferential loans. The World Bank will pay half of the cost. The project is also supported, for example, by the Islamic Development Bank and the USA.