Uzbekistan launched construction of new power line to Afghanistan
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Uzbekistan plans to complete construction of the Uzbek section of the new Surkhan - Puli-Khumri transmission line in December 2019, Podrobno.uz reported.
This transmission line will connect the energy system of Afghanistan to the unified energy system of Uzbekistan and Central Asia.
Uzbekistan has already begun construction of its new line section. Its total length will be about 260 kilometers, of which 45 fall for the territory of Uzbekistan and 215 - for Afghanistan.
The total cost of the project is $ 150 million, of which $ 118 million is invested by the Afghan side, and $ 32 million by the Uzbek side.
Construction financing is provided by the Asian Development Bank.
The payback period of the project is 12 years. The capacity of the new transmission line is estimated at 1,000 MW, which will allow exporting 24 million kWh per day, about 6 billion kWh per year.
The agreement on the construction of the power line was signed during the visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Uzbekistan in December 2017.
To date, Uzbekistan is one of the main suppliers of electricity for Afghanistan, where there is an acute shortage of electricity. Representatives of the Afghan side said earlier in the course of the talks that due to growing consumption they intend to further increase purchases of Uzbek energy.
Uzbekistan has been supplying electricity to Afghanistan since 2002 based on the annual direct contracts, taking into account the needs of the Afghan side. In 2002, the supply volume was only 62 million kWh. With each coming year this volume went up to 200 million kWh. In 2018, a contract was signed for the supply of approximately two billion kWh of electricity.
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