Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 25
Trend:
Uzbekistan plans to complete construction of the Uzbek section of the new Surkhan-Puli-Khumri power line in December 2019, Uzbek media reported referring to a source at Uzbekenergo.
Uzbekistan has already begun construction of its new line section. Its total length will be about 260 kilometers, 45 kilometers of which are on the territory of Uzbekistan and 215 - in Afghanistan.
The agreement on the construction of power lines was signed during the visit of President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani to Uzbekistan in December 2017. The project payback period is 12 years. The capacity of the line will be 1,000 megawatts, that is, it will be possible to transmit over 24 million kilowatts/hour per day. Construction financing will be provided by the Asian Development Bank.
The total cost of the project is $150 million, $118 million of which is invested by the Afghan side, and $32 million - by the Uzbek side.
The new line will bring the volume of exports of Uzbek electricity to Afghanistan to 8 billion kilowatts/hour per year. In addition, it will provide an opportunity to connect Afghanistan to the Central Asia Power System.
Uzbekistan is one of the main suppliers of electricity for Afghanistan, where there is an acute shortage of electricity. Representatives of the Afghan side have repeatedly stated earlier that due to the growth in consumption, they intend to further increase the purchases of Uzbek energy.
Uzbekistan has been supplying electricity to Afghanistan since 2002 under annually concluded direct contracts, taking into account the needs of the Afghan side. In 2002, the supply volume amounted to only 62 million kilowatts/hour. In 2018, a contract was signed for the supply of approximately two billion kilowatts/hour of electricity.