Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat Holding announced the start of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan transmission line project.

According to media reports, the first phase of the project will include the laying of power lines from the Turkmen city of Mary to Herat province in Afghanistan. As part of the second phase, the power line will be brought to Pakistan. The completion of the construction of the power transmission line is planned in 2021.

An agreement on the creation of a transmission line with a length of 750 km was signed in October 2018 in Ashgabat. LEA runs from Mary (Turkmenistan) to Herat (Afghanistan) and further to Quetta (Pakistan). Initially, 600 MW of electricity will be supplied to Afghanistan, and later - up to 1,000 MW for the IRA and Pakistan. The project is financed by the Turkish Çalık Holding in the amount of US$1.6 billion.

According to the representative of DABS S. Ahmadzai, the Afghan authorities annually spend about US$220 million for the purchase of electricity in neighboring countries. The country consumes 1,100 MW of electricity, of which only 240 MW are generated at IRA power plants. 80% of the annual demand comes from external supplies. The country annually imports 4.6 thousand MW.

Today, only 30% of the population is connected to the electricity networks, and most of the rural residents, which make up 75% of the total population of Afghanistan, are left without electricity. Lack of electricity also does not allow meeting the growing demand of the economy and hinders the full development of the country’s industrial potential.

Thus, according to the IRA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Afghan industry is already experiencing an acute shortage of electricity, which is why factories in some provinces work only 6 hours a day.

In this regard, according to the representative of DABS M. Khozhmand, the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power transmission line, on the one hand, will allow Afghanistan to intensify the growth of the industrial sector, on the other hand, to receive on an annual basis US$50 million from the transit of electric energy.

In general, the launch of the power transmission line will increase the export of Turkmen electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and will also contribute to the intensification of trans-regional cooperation between South and Central Asia.