Afghan minister hails power transmission line

By Fida Hussain
Daily Times, Pakistan
Friday, May 12, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan sees electric power transmission line from Central Asia to South Asia as an important project, as it is believed to be the first step towards integrated trade in various sectors between the two regions through Afghanistan, said Afghan Deputy Minister for Energy and Water Dr M Jalil Shams here on Thursday.

In an interview with the Daily Times, he said Afghanistan wants Central Asia and South Asia to do more trade with each other through Afghanistan.
“Through inter-regional trade the regional states will definitely have economic stakes in Afghanistan and this element will bring about stability in the war-devastated country,” he said.

Mr Shams termed the recently-held four-nation Central Asia-South Asia Eelectricity Trade Conference in Islamabad as unexpected success. “We
(Afghans) believe that this is the beginning what Afghanistan wants to have at hand,” added Mr Shams while rejecting the impression that the four nations had taken up the project after being forced to do so by the United States that could be a substitute for the proposed gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India (IPI).

Import of electric power from Tajikistan to Pakistan was an idea older than the proposed IPI, he said. Pakistan has already signed an agreement to import 1,000 megawatt electricity from Tajikistan. But right in the just concluded conference, Pakistan has actually extended the project to Kyrgyzstan. In the project, Afghanistan has become important because power would be transmitted through the same country, he added.

Mr Shams said there was a lot of work to be done on the proposed project that would bring around 4,000MW electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through 900-km long transmission line via Afghanistan. The feasibility study has to be undertaken, he added.

He assured Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that the project would not be scrapped due to the issue of transit fee Afghanistan would get after laying the line in Afghan territory. “Let me assure all the parties that transit fee will never be made an impediment in the way of implementation of the project,” he said categorically.

What would be exact amount of transit charges? It would be decided in the final stages of the project implementation. Kabul will definitely charge some fee, as we have everything in a mess in Afghanistan. He said we have also assured Pakistan that Afghanistan will get minimum electricity from the transmission line coming from Central Asia. The line will primarily look after Pakistan’s energy requirements, he added. But, at the same time, he disclosed that the Afghan government will construct service stations for taking power from that line.

With the two-day conference we got close to each other. The immediate outcome of the conference is that all the parties vowed to fight terrorism with an iron hand. The Afghan deputy minister reminded the regional countries that Afghanistan needs their cooperation in the fight against terrorism. A stable Afghanistan is, indeed, in the interest of countries neighbouring Afghanistan. The Central Asian Republics and the South Asian nations must know that economic prosperity of the two regions would largely depend on stability in Afghanistan. The provision of security must be considered a joint responsibility, he added.

Mr Shams said it is the time the regional states came up with a new vision.
The 21st century is considered to be the century of Asia in terms of economic growth and development. In the new scenario the responsibilities of South Asian and Central Asian states have become much greater.