DUSHANBE - Tajikistan will begin to supply electrical power via the 220 kV power transmission line from Sangtuda in Tajikistan to Pul-i Khumri in Afghanistan in the near future, Nourmahmad Kholnazarov, the head of the power industry department within the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, Tajik and Afghan energy departments reached an agreement on this subject recently. "In the near future, representatives from Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan), led by the Barqi Tojik first deputy head Abdullo Qurbonov, will visit Afghanistan to get acquainted with operating conditions of the mentioned power transmission line on Afghan territory," said Kholnazarov, "If everything is normal, we will start the test supply of electricity to Afghanistan via this power transmission line."

"Since Tajikistan itself still experiences electricity shortages in autumn-winter period, we will supply only 3 or 4 megawatt-hour of electricity per day to Afghanistan this year," Tajik power industry official said, noting that the test supply will last for one or two weeks, depending on weather conditions.

Regular supply of Tajik electricity to Afghanistan via this power transmission line will start next year, Kholnazarov added.

Under an agreement reached between the sides, Tajikistan will supply electric power to Afghanistan at 3.5 cents per one kWh. Uzbekistan, for example, now supplies electricity to Afghanistan at 7.0-7.5 cents per kWh.

A total cost the Tajikistan-Afghanistan 220 kV interconnection project that was launched in 2009 is 56.5 million U.S. dollars and it is financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, and the governments of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

On the territory of Tajikistan, the line starts in the Sanguda-1 hydroelectric plant and ends on the Tajik-Afghan border. The 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transmission line is 278 kilometers long, and 116 kilometers of it lies on Tajik territory and 162 kilometers on Afghan territory.

Over the first eight months of this year, Tajikistan has reportedly exported more than 92 million kWh of electrical power for more than US$2.1 million, primarily to Afghanistan. According to Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan now supplies electricity to Afghanistan only during summer season and in small volumes (not more than 15 megawatt-hour of electricity per day via the 110 kilovolt power transmission line).
Compared to the same period last year electricity exports have reportedly decreased by 16.8 percent. (Asia News)