Istanbul Turkey - Nov 25, 2015 - The last bunch of documents and agreements on Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000) were finalized in the intergovernmental council of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in Istanbul City on Nov 24, 2015.
Ministers of Energy of all the above mentioned countries and Ali Ahmad Usmani Minister of Water and Energy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Abdurrazaq Samadi Head of the Electricity Company (DABS), Finance Deputy Minister and Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer Mustafa Mastoor, Head of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wahidullah Waisi, and technical staff of Ministries of Economy, Finance, Water and Energy, and the Electricity Company (DABS) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan participated in the meeting.
They finalized legal, financial, and technical documents of CASA 1000, and two electricity purchase agreements between Afghanistan and Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were also finalized so that to be approved through administrative channels of each country and finally be signed by the authorities of the related countries.
The Master Agreement, Financial Agreement, Bank Account Agreement, and Cooperation Agreement, and the Bid Opening of the transfer cable for the Afghanistan Section were signed too.
The World Bank has announced its U.S. $ 526, 5 Grant and Loan without interest for the implementation of this project in order to transmit 1300 megawatts of sustainable electricity to these countries to meet their institutional, commercial and infrastructure needs. Out of the above mentioned amount, U.S. $ 316, 5 Loan without interest has been allocated to Afghanistan.
The total budget of this project has been estimated about U.S. $ 1, 17 billion. So far, the U.S, Britain, European Investment Bank, and Islamic Development Bank have pledged themselves to meet the financial gap of the mentioned project.
As per request of Tajikistan, CASA 1000 Project will be officially inaugurated in May 2016 in the presence of high-ranking officials of the four countries.
In his opening remarks the Minister of Water and Energy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan said, “This project was proposed in 2005 through Regional Economic Cooperation Conference for Afghanistan (RECCA) and in (RECCA-VI), which was held in Kabul two months ago, we witnessed a turning point in the implementation phase of this project after ten years of efforts, cooperation and negotiation among these four countries.
CASA 1000 is one of the major projects in Central Asia, which transfers surplus electricity of 1250 km high voltage lines from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. This project has three altering power stations that convert AC electricity to DC and vice-versa in Sangtoda area of Tajikistan (with the capacity of 1300 megawatt), Kabul (with the capacity of 300 megawatt) and Peshawar (with the capacity of 1300 megawatt).
It is worth mentioning that Afghanistan will gain annual revenue of U.S. $ 45 million from the transit of this project to Pakistan.