Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 9 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Two separate ministries, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Industry have been established after the disbandment of the Ministry of Energy (dealing with the development of power industry) and industry in Turkmenistan, an official Turkmen source said today.
The relevant decree has been signed by President Berdimuhamedov. Babaniyaz Italmazov has been appointed as Minister of Industry with Murad Artykov as Minister of Energy.
The first ministry will include about 70 different institutions and companies, including the departments of the Ministry of Building Materials Industry and Turkmenmashyngurlushyk which until then operated under the Ministry of Energy and Industry.
The reorganisation is designed to be part of a unified state policy on the further development of industries, to increase their contribution to the GDP of the country, to improve the management of industrial enterprises and coordinate their activities.
The Turkmen leader said at a recent government meeting that the new ministry has important tasks to attract investments into the industrial sector, to create competitive facilities set up modern equipment, including the manufacture of machines and instruments, as well as the reconstruction and modernisation of existing enterprises in accordance with international standards, transferring them into innovative technologies.
Concrete action will be taken to establish a maintenance and service base within the Ministry, as well as to strengthen the capacity of private industrial enterprises.
The Ministry of Energy will remain profiled. The level of electricity production is projected to reach 35.5 billion kW / h in accordance with Turkmenistan's strategy of development by 2030.
Three more gas turbine combined cycle power stations with a total capacity of 1122 MW are planned to be built to achieve this goal. The construction of high voltage transmission lines and substations that will reduce electricity losses during transportation will be continued.
The energy system will be fully looped with high 500kV voltage overhead lines in the future. It is planned to build high voltage 500 kV lines Balkanabat-Ashgabat-Mary by 2020.
Transport capacity at this stage allows the country to sell electricity to Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia.
Turkmenistan is conducting design work regarding the possible supply of electricity to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a transit country. At present, it is an importer of Turkmen electricity supplied at this stage at discounted prices. The present volume is about 325 million kilowatt-hours per year.
Turkmenistan is implementing measures to improve the infrastructure that will eventually allow a five-fold increase in exports of electricity to Afghanistan.
The State Electric Power Corporation Turkmenenergo, has chosen the Turkish Company Lotus Proje Akaryakit Enerji Madencilik Telekomunikasyon Insaat Sanayi Taahhut ve Ticaret as the contractor for the project worth $390 million.