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Work in Afghanistan on infrastructure to connect to the CASA-1000 Central Asia - South Asia regional power transmission project will be completed in the spring of 2027, with commercial operation to begin that summer.

"Representatives of Kamani Engineering Corporation (KEC) [the contractor] said that according to the updated plan, work on the Afghan section would be completed in the spring of 2027, and the project would launch commercially in the summer of 2027," the Tajik Ministry of Energy and Water Resources said following consultations in Dushanbe with Afghan officials and the contractor.

A protocol was signed after talks with the management of Afghanistan's national electricity company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), representatives of the World Bank and KEC.

CASA-1000, begun in 2016, involves exporting surplus electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the summer months to Afghanistan and Pakistan by interconnecting the Central and South Asian power systems. The project costs $1.2 billion and is being financed by the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The project envisages the construction of more than 1,200 kilometers of transmission lines and converter stations to export of up to 1,300 MW of electricity per year.

The Tajik Energy Ministry said work had been completed in three of the four countries participating in the project-Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan-while it was ongoing in Afghanistan.

The project's commissioning dates have been repeatedly postponed due to the situation in Afghanistan, including a change in government. In March 2024, the Taliban movement, which controls the country, announced the resumption of World Bank support for CASA-1000 after a two-year pause. The project involves building a 562 km transmission line in Afghanistan and a 300 MW converter station in Kabul.

A consortium consisting of Hitachi Energy (Sweden) and Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios S.A. (Spain) will service the CASA-1000 converter stations in Tajikistan and Pakistan.

by Interfax