Dushanbe (Tajikistan): Central Asian state leaders on Thursday inaugurated the Central Asia South Asia (CASA-1000) transmission line near Dushanbe in Tajikistan.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov jointly launched the project alongside Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The $1.2 billion, 750-kilometre-long transmission line expected to be complete by 2018 will allow Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan via Afghanistan to minimise its electricity shortage, reports Dawn.
Pakistan will reportedly consume about 1,000MW of the exported energy while 300MW will be used by Afghanistan.
Sharif who is on his two-day trip here at delegation-level meeting agreed to strengthen bilateral relations, particularly in areas of trade, energy and connectivity with his hosts.
Since 2005, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan have been pursuing the development of electricity-trading arrangements and the establishment of the Casa Regional Energy Market (CASAREM).
Afghanistan has given a sovereign guarantee to protect the section of the transmission line passing through it.
The Casa-1000 project will include a 750km high voltage direct current (DC) transmission system between Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan, together with associated converter stations at Sangtuda (1,300MW), Kabul (300MW) and Peshawar (1,300MW).
The 477km 500kV alternating current facility will run between the Kyrgyz Republic (Datka) and Tajikistan (Khoujand).