Tajikistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a grant agreement helping Tajikistan reconnect to the Central Asian power grid through interconnection with the Uzbekistan power system, according to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT), news.tj reports.
A grant agreement for 35 million U.S. dollars was signed on November 23 in Dushanbe between the Government of Tajikistan, represented by Mr. Nematullo Hikmatulozoda, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and the Asian Development Bank, represented by Mr. Pradeep Srivastava, ADB Country Director for Tajikistan.
Recall, the ADB approved a $35 million grant to reconnect Tajikistan’s electricity system to the Central Asian Power System (CAPS) through interconnection with the Uzbekistan system on November 15. This is expected to help expand regional energy trade and improve regional energy efficiency among countries connected to CAPS.
CAPS is a regional electricity transmission network created during the Soviet Union era, and its operation today is coordinated among Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In recent decades, power exchange within CAPS has been in progressive decline and Tajikistan’s disconnection from Uzbekistan in 2009 limited the effectiveness of an interconnected CAPS. But the signing of a power trade agreement to restart the electricity trade between the two countries in March this year is a step forward for a renewed regional energy network.
The project aims to install and upgrade modern relay protection equipment for synchronizing Tajikistan and Uzbekistan’s electricity systems, expand interconnection points, and strengthen Tajikistan’s capacity for stable parallel operation.
The total cost of the project is $40 million, with the Government of Tajikistan providing $5 million. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
ADB and Tajikistan’s development partnership, which began in 1998, has restored and built the country’s new transport and energy infrastructure, supported social development, expanded agricultural production, and improved regional cooperation and trade. To date, ADB has approved around $1.7 billion in grants, concessional loans, and technical assistance to Tajikistan.