AKIPRESS.COM - Tajikistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $35 million grant agreement, approved by the ADB in mid-November to reconnect Tajikistan’s electricity system to the Central Asian Power System (CAPS) through interconnection with the Uzbekistan system.

This will help expand regional energy trade and improve regional energy efficiency among countries connected to CAPS.

The deal was signed by was signed Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan Nematullo Hikmatulozoda and  ADB Country Director for Tajikistan Pradeep Srivastava on November 23 in Dushanbe.

An interconnected power system in central Asia will benefit all countries, optimize power use, enhance regional energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

CAPS is a regional electricity transmission network created during the Soviet Union era, and its operation today is coordinated among Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, 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 will 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.