DUSHANBE, June 24, Asia-Plus -- The World Bank (WB) has hired the services of Harvey Salgo, an international consultant, to prepare technical, financial, social, environment and legal studies for transmission of 1000 MW electricity from Tajikistan to Pakistan.  

The hiring of the consultant was a follow-up of the two-day energy Central Asia and South Asia electricity trade conference on May 8-9 in Islamabad mainly sponsored by US State Department, United States Energy Association (USEA), World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, International Finance Corporation and private sector organizations.  The conference also agreed that surplus power from Kyrgyz Republic could also be transmitted through this line by suitable interconnections, but the proposal would be finalized after completion of Tajikistan-Pakistan electricity trade talks.

Mr. Harvey Salgo is an economist and attorney, with over 25 years experience in energy industry, including power sector legislation and regulation, privatization and finance, supply- and demand-side planning, procurement, competitive bidding, and contracts.  He has substantial international experience as a long-term advisor to the World Bank and others in developing countries such as India, Montenegro, Zimbabwe, and Ukraine regarding power sector reform, privatization, and market transformation.  WB has engaged Harvey Salgo having rich experience in regional electricity trade to lay 900-kilometer power-transmission line for materializing 1000 MW electricity from Tajikistan to Pakistan. The Tajik transmission line would be routed to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The countries participating in the project had formed a working group, comprising Shabbir Chaudhary, CEO, NTDC (Pakistan), Akram Sulaymonov, Deputy Tajik Minister of Energy, Sirojiddin Saidov, Deputy Chairman of the "Barqi Tojik" (Tajik electric systems) Energy Holding, Engineer Ghulam Rabani, Advisor to Afghanistan''s Ministry of Energy and Water, and Ilias Dadarov, Head of Kyrgyzstan''s National Grid Company, to materialize the project. 

The Roghun-Norak-Sangtuda-Kunduz-Kabul-Peshawar (Pakistan) power line will be 1000 kilometers in length and 430 kilometers of this main will pass through Afghan territory. According to Tajik experts’ estimates, an estimated budget for the implementation of this project is nearly US$550 million.  The power-transmission line from Tajikistan would help Pakistan in meeting its growing energy requirements.  Pakistan''s energy requirements annually rise by eight percent, and the Pakistani side is ready to annually import some 4 billion kWh of electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.  

It is supposed that a detailed discussion of this project for the construction of the power-transmission line from Tajikistan to Pakistan will be discussed in Dushanbe in near future, during a visit of Pakistani Water and Energy Minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi.  During his visit to Tajikistan modalities for the power export to Pakistan are supposed to be finalized.